Edward Deming
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William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American business theorist, composer, economist, industrial engineer, management consultant, statistician, and writer. Educated initially as an
electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
and later specializing in
mathematical physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...
, he helped develop the sampling techniques still used by the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
and the
Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the government of the United States, U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics, labor economics and ...
. He is also known as the father of the quality movement and was hugely influential in post-WWII Japan, credited with revolutionizing Japan's industry and making it one of the most dominant economies in the world. He is best known for his theories of management.


Overview

Deming received a
BS degree A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
in
electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
from the
University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...
at Laramie (1921), an
MS degree A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...
from the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...
(1925), and a
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
from
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
(1928). Both graduate degrees were in mathematics and physics. He had an internship at
Western Electric Western Electric Co., Inc. was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that operated from 1869 to 1996. A subsidiary of the AT&T Corporation for most of its lifespan, Western Electric was the primary manufacturer, supplier, ...
's
Hawthorne Works The Hawthorne Works was a large factory complex of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois. In addition to industrial plants, several on-site community amenities were provided to workers. Named for the original name of what became Cicer ...
in
Cicero, Illinois Cicero is a town in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, the population was 85,268, making it the 11th-most populous municipality in Illinois. The town is named after Marcus Tullius Cicero, a R ...
, while studying at Yale. He later worked at the
U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and production ...
and the Census Bureau. While working under Gen.
Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...
as a census consultant to the
Japanese government The Government of Japan is the central government of Japan. It consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and functions under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan. Japan is a unitary state, containing forty- ...
, he was asked to teach a short seminar on
statistical process control Statistical process control (SPC) or statistical quality control (SQC) is the application of statistics, statistical methods to monitor and control the quality of a production process. This helps to ensure that the process operates efficiently, ...
(SPC) methods to members of the Radio Corps, at the invitation of
Homer Sarasohn Homer Sarasohn, an IEEE Life Member (24 April 1916 – September 28, 2001), was an American engineer. When General Douglas MacArthur recruited him to re-establish the Japanese electronics industry, Mr. Sarasohn initiated the quality contro ...
. During this visit, he was contacted by the
Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...
(JUSE) to talk directly to Japanese business leaders, not about SPC, but about his theories of management, returning to Japan for many years to consult. Later, he became a professor at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
, while engaged as an independent consultant in Washington, D.C. Deming was the author of ''Quality Productivity and Competitive Position'', ''Out of the Crisis'' (1982–1986), and ''The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education'' (1993), and books on statistics and sampling. Deming played the flute and drums and composed music throughout his life, including sacred choral compositions and an arrangement of "
The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort ...
." In 1993, he founded the W. Edwards Deming Institute in Washington, D.C., where the Deming Collection at the U.S.
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
includes an extensive audiotape and videotape archive. The aim of the institute is to "Enrich society through the Deming philosophy." Deming's teachings and philosophy are clearly illustrated by examining the results they produced after they were adopted by Japanese industry, as the following example (called the Ford-Mazda study) shows.
Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...
was simultaneously manufacturing a car model with transmissions made in Japan (by Mazda) and the United States (by Ford). Soon after the car model was on the market (), Ford customers were requesting the model with Japanese transmissions over the US-made transmissions, and they were willing to wait for the Japanese model. As both transmissions were made to the same specifications, Ford engineers could not understand the customer preference for the model with Japanese transmissions. Finally, Ford engineers decided to take apart the two different transmissions. The American-made car parts were all within specified tolerance levels. However, the Japanese car parts were virtually identical to each other, and much closer to the nominal values for the parts—e.g., if a part was supposed to be one foot long, plus or minus 1/8 of an inch (300 mm ± 3 mm)—then the Japanese parts were all within , less variation. This made the Japanese cars run more smoothly and customers experienced fewer problems. In his book ''The New Economics for Industry, Government, and Education'' Deming championed the work of
Walter Shewhart Walter Andrew Shewhart (pronounced like "shoe-heart"; March 18, 1891 – March 11, 1967) was an American physicist, engineer and statistician. He is sometimes also known as the ''grandfather of statistical quality control'' and also related to t ...
, including
statistical process control Statistical process control (SPC) or statistical quality control (SQC) is the application of statistics, statistical methods to monitor and control the quality of a production process. This helps to ensure that the process operates efficiently, ...
, operational definitions, and what Deming called the "Shewhart Cycle", which had evolved into Plan-Do-Study-Act ( PDSA). Deming is well known for his work in Japan after WWII, particularly his work with the leaders of Japanese industry. That work began in July and August 1950, in Tokyo and at the Hakone Convention Center, when Deming delivered speeches on what he called "Statistical Product Quality Administration". Many in Japan credit Deming as one of the inspirations for what has become known as the
Japanese post-war economic miracle The Japanese economic miracle () refers to a period of economic growth in the post–World War II Japan. It generally refers to the period from 1955, around which time the per capita gross national income of the country recovered to pre-war leve ...
of 1950 to 1960, when Japan rose from the ashes of war on the road to becoming the second-largest economy in the world through processes partially influenced by the ideas Deming taught:Deming's 1950 Lecture to Japanese Management
Translation by Teruhide Haga. Accessed: 2015-02-24.
# Better design of products to improve service # Higher level of uniform product quality # Improvement of product testing in the workplace and in research centers # Greater sales through side lobalmarkets Deming is best known in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
for his 14 Points (''Out of the Crisis'', by W. Edwards Deming, preface) and his system of thought he called the "System of Profound Knowledge". The system includes four components or "lenses" through which to view the world simultaneously: # Appreciating a system # Understanding variation #
Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
#
Epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
, the theory of knowledge Deming made a significant contribution to Japan's reputation for innovative, high-quality products, and for its economic power. He is regarded as having had more impact on Japanese manufacturing and business than any other individual not of Japanese heritage. Despite being honored in Japan in 1951 with the establishment of the Deming Prize, he was only just beginning to win widespread recognition in the United States at the time of his death in 1993.
President Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party and became an important figure in ...
awarded him the
National Medal of Technology The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the president of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...
in 1987. The following year, the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
gave Deming the Distinguished Career in Science award.


Early life

William Edwards Deming was born in
Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, Woodbury and Plymouth County, Iowa, Plymouth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, fo ...
, but he was raised in
Polk City, Iowa Polk City is a city in Polk County, Iowa, Polk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 6533 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, an increase from 2,344 in 2000 United States Census, 2000. It is part of the Des Moines, Iowa, Des M ...
, on his grandfather Henry Coffin Edwards' chicken farm, then later on a farm purchased by his father in
Powell, Wyoming Powell () is a city in Park County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 6,419 at the 2020 census. Powell is an All-America City and home to Northwest College. History Powell was incorporated in 1909. Powell was named for John Wesle ...
. He was the son of William Albert Deming and Pluma Irene Edwards,The Man: Biography
W. Edwards Deming Institute. Accessed: 2006-06-17.
His parents were well-educated and emphasized the importance of education to their children. Pluma had studied in San Francisco and was a musician. William Albert had studied mathematics and law. He was a direct descendant of
John Deming John Deming (21 November 1705) was an early Puritan settler and original patentee of the Connecticut ColonyDeming, pp. 3–8 Biography Life Deming was born in Shalford, Essex, England. He arrived in New England during the Great Migration with ...
, (1615–1705) an early
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
settler and original patentee of the
Connecticut Colony The Connecticut Colony, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritans, Puritan congregation o ...
, and Honor Treat, the daughter of Richard Treat (1584–1669), an early
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
settler, deputy to the Connecticut Legislature and also a patentee of the Royal Charter of Connecticut, 1662.


Career

Deming was a professor of statistics in New York University graduate school of business administration (1946–1993) and taught at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
's graduate school of business (1988–1993). He also was a consultant for private business. In 1927, Deming was introduced to
Walter A. Shewhart Walter Andrew Shewhart (pronounced like "shoe-heart"; March 18, 1891 – March 11, 1967) was an American physicist, engineer and statistician. He is sometimes also known as the ''grandfather of Statistical process control, statistical quality con ...
of the Bell Telephone Laboratories by C.H. Kunsman of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Deming found great inspiration in the work of Shewhart, the originator of the concepts of statistical control of processes and the related technical tool of the
control chart Control charts are graphical plots used in production control to determine whether quality and manufacturing processes are being controlled under stable conditions. (ISO 7870-1) The hourly status is arranged on the graph, and the occurrence of ...
, as Deming began to move toward the application of statistical methods to industrial production and management. Shewhart's idea of common and special causes of variation led directly to Deming's theory of management. Deming saw that these ideas could be applied not only to manufacturing processes, but also to the processes by which enterprises are led and managed. This key insight made possible his enormous influence on the economics of the industrialized world after 1950.''A Brief History of Dr. W. Edwards Deming'' British Deming Association SPC Press, Inc. 1992 In 1936, he studied under Sir
Ronald Fisher Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was a British polymath who was active as a mathematician, statistician, biologist, geneticist, and academic. For his work in statistics, he has been described as "a genius who a ...
and Jerzy Spława-Neyman at
University College, London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
, England. Deming edited a series of lectures delivered by Shewhart at USDA, ''Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control'', into a book published in 1939. One reason he learned so much from Shewhart, Deming remarked in a videotaped interview, was that, while brilliant, Shewhart had an "uncanny ability to make things difficult." Deming thus spent a great deal of time both copying Shewhart's ideas and devising ways to present them with his own twist. Deming developed the sampling techniques that were used for the first time during the 1940 U.S. Census, formulating the Deming-Stephan algorithm for iterative proportional fitting in the process. During World War II, Deming was a member of the five-man Emergency Technical Committee. He worked with H.F. Dodge, A.G. Ashcroft, Leslie E. Simon, R.E. Wareham, and John Gaillard in the compilation of the American War Standards (
American Standards Association The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private nonprofit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organiz ...
Z1.1–3 published in 1942) and taught SPC techniques to workers engaged in wartime production. Statistical methods were widely applied during World War II, but faded into disuse a few years later in the face of huge overseas demand for American mass-produced products.


Japan

In 1947, Deming was involved in early planning for the 1951
Japanese census This is a list of national population and housing censuses. Census advisory The United Nations recommends a census enumeration at least once every ten years, and once every five years for even better data, rather than simply relying on estim ...
. The Allied powers were occupying Japan, and he was asked by the
United States Department of the Army The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the United States Department of Defense. The DA is the Federal government of the United States, federal government agency within which the United St ...
to assist with the census. He was brought over at the behest of General
Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...
, who grew frustrated at being unable to complete so much as a phone call without the line going dead due to Japan's shattered postwar economy. While in Japan, his expertise in quality-control techniques, combined with his involvement in Japanese society, brought him an invitation from the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). JUSE members had studied Shewhart's techniques, and as part of Japan's reconstruction efforts, they sought an expert to teach statistical control. From June–August 1950, Deming trained hundreds of engineers, managers, and scholars in SPC and concepts of quality. He also conducted at least one session for top management (including top Japanese industrialists of the likes of
Akio Morita was a Japanese entrepreneur and co-founder of Sony along with Masaru Ibuka. Early life Akio Morita was born in Nagoya. Morita's family was involved in sake, miso and soy sauce production in the village of Kosugaya (currently a part of Toko ...
, the cofounder of
Sony Corp is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (imaging and sensing), ...
.) Deming's message to Japan's chief executives was that improving
quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory *Energy quality, used in various science discipli ...
would reduce expenses, while increasing
productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...
and market share. Perhaps the best known of these management lectures was delivered at the Mt. Hakone Conference Center in August 1950. A number of Japanese manufacturers applied his techniques widely and experienced heretofore unheard-of levels of quality and productivity. The improved quality combined with the lowered cost created new international demand for Japanese products. Deming declined to receive royalties from the transcripts of his 1950 lectures, so JUSE's board of directors established the
Deming Prize The Deming Prize is the longest-running national quality award and one of the highest awards in the world. It recognizes both individuals for their contributions to the field of quality and businesses that have successfully implemented exemplary s ...
(December 1950) to repay him for his friendship and kindness. Within Japan, the Deming Prize continues to exert considerable influence on the disciplines of quality control and quality management. In 1960, the Prime Minister of Japan (
Nobusuke Kishi was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960. He is remembered for his exploitative economic management of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in China in the 1930s, ...
), acting on behalf of Emperor
Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...
, awarded Deming Japan's Order of the Sacred Treasure, Second Class. The citation on the medal recognizes Deming's contributions to Japan's industrial rebirth and its worldwide success. The first section of the meritorious service record describes his work in Japan: :*1947, Rice Statistics Mission member :*1950, assistant to the
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (), or SCAP, was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) ...
:*instructor in sample survey methods in government statistics The second half of the record lists his service to private enterprise through the introduction of epochal ideas, such as quality control and market survey techniques. Among his many honors, an exhibit memorializing Deming's contributions and his famous Red Bead Experiment is on display outside the board room of the
American Society for Quality The American Society for Quality (ASQ), formerly the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC), is a society of quality professionals, with more than 30,000 members, in more than 140 countries. History ASQC was established on 16 February ...
. He was inducted into the
Automotive Hall of Fame The Automotive Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum honoring influential figures in the history of the automotive industry. Located in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, US. The Hall of Fame is part of the MotorCities National Herita ...
in 1991.


Later career

David Salsburg David S. Salsburg (born 1931) is an American author. His 2002 book ''The Lady Tasting Tea'', subtitled ''How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century'', provides a layman's overview of important developments in the field of statis ...
wrote: :"He was known for his kindness to and consideration for those he worked with, for his robust, if very subtle, humor, and for his interest in music. He sang in a choir, played drums and flute, and published several original pieces of sacred music." Later, from his home in Washington, D.C., Deming continued running his own consultancy business in the United States, largely unknown and unrecognized in his country of origin and work. In 1980, he was featured prominently in an
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
TV documentary titled '' If Japan can... Why can't we?'' about the increasing industrial competition the United States was facing from Japan. As a result of the broadcast, demand for his services increased dramatically, and Deming continued consulting for industry throughout the world until his death at the age of 93. Ford Motor Company was one of the first American corporations to seek help from Deming. In 1981, Ford's sales were falling. Between 1979 and 1982, Ford had incurred $3 billion in losses. Ford's newly appointed Corporate Quality Director, Larry Moore, was charged with recruiting Deming to help jump-start a quality movement at Ford. Deming questioned the company's culture and the way its managers operated. To Ford's surprise, Deming talked not about quality, but about management. He told Ford that management actions were responsible for 85% of all problems in developing better cars. In 1986, Ford came out with a profitable line of cars, the Taurus-Sable line. In a letter to ''Autoweek'',
Donald Petersen Donald Eugene Petersen (September 4, 1926 – April 24, 2024) was an American businessman who was employed by the Ford Motor Company for 40 years, most notably as its chief executive officer from 1985 to 1990. Early life Donald Eugene Peter ...
, then Ford chairman, said, "We are moving toward building a quality culture at Ford and the many changes that have been taking place here have their roots directly in Deming's teachings." By 1986, Ford had become the most profitable American auto company. For the first time since the 1920s, its earnings had exceeded those of arch-rival
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
(GM). Ford had come to lead the American automobile industry in improvements. Ford's following years' earnings confirmed that its success was not a fluke, for its earnings continued to exceed GM and Chrysler's. In 1982, Deming's book ''Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position'' was published by the
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
Center for Advanced Engineering, and was renamed ''Out of the Crisis'' in 1986. In it, he offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but also by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved products and services. "Long-term commitment to new learning and new philosophy is required of any management that seeks transformation. The timid and the fainthearted, and the people that expect quick results, are doomed to disappointment." In 1982, Deming, along with Paul Hertz and Howard Gitlow of the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...
Graduate School of Business in Coral Gables, founded the W. Edwards Deming Institute for the Improvement of Productivity and Quality. In 1983, the institute trained consultants of Ernst and Whinney Management Consultants in the Deming teachings. E&W then founded its Deming Quality Consulting Practice which is still active today. His methods and workshops regarding
Total Quality Management Total quality management (TQM) is an organization-wide effort to "install and make a permanent climate where employees continuously improve their ability to provide on-demand products and services that customers will find of particular value." ...
have had broad influence. For example, they were used to define how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Underground Storage Tanks program would work. Over the course of his career, Deming received dozens of academic awards, including another, honorary, PhD from
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...
. In 1987, he was awarded the
National Medal of Technology The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the president of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...
: "For his forceful promotion of statistical methodology, for his contributions to sampling theory, and for his advocacy to corporations and nations of a general management philosophy that has resulted in improved product quality." In 1988, he received the Distinguished Career in Science award from the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
. Deming continued to advise businesses large and small. From 1985 through 1989, Deming served as a consultant to Vernay Laboratories, a rubber manufacturing firm in Yellow Springs, Ohio, with fewer than 1,000 employees. He held several week-long seminars for employees and suppliers of the small company where his famous example "Workers on the Red Beads" spurred several major changes in Vernay's manufacturing processes. Deming joined the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University in 1988. In 1990, during his last year, he founded the W. Edwards Deming Center for Quality, Productivity, and Competitiveness at
Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and one of ...
to promote operational excellence in business through the development of research, best practices and strategic planning. In 1990,
Marshall Industries Marshall Industries , (1984–1999) was founded in 1954 by Gordon S. Marshall and was among the largest distributors of industrial electronic components, semiconductors and production supplies. The Company also provided its customers with a variety ...
(NYSE:MI, 1984–1999) CEO Robert Rodin trained with the then 90-year-old Deming and his colleague Nida Backaitis. Marshall Industries' dramatic transformation and growth from $400 million to $1.8 billion in sales was chronicled in Deming's last book ''The New Economics'', a Harvard Case Study, and Rodin's book, ''Free, Perfect and Now''. In 1993, Deming published his final book, ''The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education'', which included the System of Profound Knowledge and the 14 Points for Management. It also contained educational concepts involving group-based teaching without grades, as well as management without individual merit or performance reviews.


Academic contributions

The philosophy of W. Edwards Deming has been summarized as follows:


The Deming System of Profound Knowledge

"The prevailing style of management must undergo transformation. A system cannot understand itself. The transformation requires a view from outside. The aim of this chapter is to provide an outside view—a lens—that I call a system of profound knowledge. It provides a map of theory by which to understand the organizations that we work in." "The first step is transformation of the individual. This transformation is discontinuous. It comes from understanding of the system of profound knowledge. The individual, transformed, will perceive new meaning to his life, to events, to numbers, to interactions between people." "Once the individual understands the system of profound knowledge, he will apply its principles in every kind of relationship with other people. He will have a basis for judgment of his own decisions and for transformation of the organizations that he belongs to." Deming advocated that all managers need to have what he called a System of Profound Knowledge, consisting of four parts: # ''Appreciation of a system'': understanding the overall processes involving suppliers, producers, and customers (or recipients) of goods and services (explained below); # ''Knowledge of variation'': the range and causes of variation in quality, and use of statistical sampling in measurements; # ''Theory of knowledge'': the concepts explaining knowledge and the limits of what can be known. # ''Knowledge of psychology'': concepts of human nature. He explained, "One need not be eminent in any part nor in all four parts in order to understand it and to apply it. The 14 points for management in industry, education, and government follow naturally as application of this outside knowledge, for transformation from the present style of Western management to one of optimization." "The various segments of the system of profound knowledge proposed here cannot be separated. They interact with each other. Thus, knowledge of psychology is incomplete without knowledge of variation. "A manager of people needs to understand that all people are different. This is not ranking people. He needs to understand that the performance of anyone is governed largely by the system that he works in, the responsibility of management. A psychologist that possesses even a crude understanding of variation as will be learned in the experiment with the Red Beads (Ch. 7) could no longer participate in refinement of a plan for ranking people."Deming, W. Edwards. 1993. ''The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education'', second edition. The ''Appreciation of a system'' involves understanding how interactions (i.e., feedback) between the elements of a system can result in internal restrictions that force the system to behave as a single organism that automatically seeks a
steady state In systems theory, a system or a process is in a steady state if the variables (called state variables) which define the behavior of the system or the process are unchanging in time. In continuous time, this means that for those properties ''p' ...
. It is this steady state that determines the output of the system rather than the individual elements. Thus it is the structure of the organization rather than the employees, alone, which holds the key to improving the quality of output. The ''Knowledge of variation'' involves understanding that everything measured consists of both "normal" variation due to the flexibility of the system and of "special causes" that create defects. Quality involves recognizing the difference to eliminate "special causes" while controlling normal variation. Deming taught that making changes in response to "normal" variation would only make the system perform worse. Understanding variation includes the mathematical certainty that variation will normally occur within six
standard deviation In statistics, the standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation of the values of a variable about its Expected value, mean. A low standard Deviation (statistics), deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean ( ...
s of the mean. The System of Profound Knowledge is the basis for application of Deming's famous 14 Points for Management, described below.


Key principles

Deming offered 14 key principles to managers for transforming business effectiveness. The points were first presented in his book ''Out of the Crisis'' (p. 23–24). Although Deming does not use the term in his book, it is credited with launching the
Total Quality Management Total quality management (TQM) is an organization-wide effort to "install and make a permanent climate where employees continuously improve their ability to provide on-demand products and services that customers will find of particular value." ...
movement. # Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive, to stay in business and to provide jobs. # Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change. # Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for massive inspection by building quality into the product in the first place. # End the practice of awarding business on the basis of a price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move towards a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust. # Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs. # Institute training on the job. # Institute leadership (see Point 12 and Ch. 8 of ''Out of the Crisis''). The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers. # Drive out
fear Fear is an unpleasant emotion that arises in response to perception, perceived dangers or threats. Fear causes physiological and psychological changes. It may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the ...
, so that everyone may work effectively for the company. (See Ch. 3 of ''Out of the Crisis'') # Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and usage that may be encountered with the product or service. # Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for
zero defects Zero Defects (or ZD) was a management-led program to eliminate defects in industrial production that enjoyed brief popularity in American industry from 1964 to the early 1970s. Quality expert Philip Crosby later incorporated it into his "Abso ...
and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force. ## Eliminate work standards (
quotas Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a restriction on the quantity of goods that can be imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * ...
) on the factory floor. Substitute with leadership. ## Eliminate
management by objective Management by objectives (MBO), also known as management by planning (MBP), was first popularized by Peter Drucker in his 1954 book ''The Practice of Management''.Drucker, P., ''The Practice of Management'', Harper, New York, 1954; Heinemann, Londo ...
. Eliminate management by numbers and numerical goals. Instead substitute with leadership. # Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to
pride of workmanship Pride of workmanship is the gratifying sense of having done good work. It is an element of job satisfaction. One of the key principles in the philosophy of management consultant W. Edwards Deming#Key principles, W. Edwards Deming is that workers ...
. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality. # Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, ''inter alia'', abolishment of the annual or merit
rating A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of a metric (e.g. quality, quantity, a combination of both,...). Rating or rating system may also refer to: Business and economics * Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness ...
and of
management by objectives Management by objectives (MBO), also known as management by planning (MBP), was first popularized by Peter Drucker in his 1954 book ''The Practice of Management''.Drucker, P., ''The Practice of Management'', Harper, New York, 1954; Heinemann, Londo ...
(See Ch. 3 of ''Out of the Crisis''). # Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement. # Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job. "Massive training is required to instill the courage to break with tradition. Every activity and every job is a part of the process."


PDCA myth

It is a common myth to credit Plan-Do-Check-Act (
PDCA PDCA or plan–do–check–act (sometimes called plan–do–check–adjust) is an iterative design and management method used in business for the control and continual improvement of processes and products. It is also known as the Shewhart cy ...
) to Deming. Deming always referred to the Cycle as the
Shewhart Walter Andrew Shewhart (pronounced like "shoe-heart"; March 18, 1891 – March 11, 1967) was an American physicist, engineer and statistician. He is sometimes also known as the ''grandfather of statistical quality control'' and also related to th ...
Cycle for Continuous Learning and Improvement. In the article on "Clearing up myths about the Deming cycle and seeing how it keeps evolving", by Ron Moen and Clifford Norman, they refer to the first origins of PDCA in the work of
Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...
on Designed Experiments and
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...
's work on Inductive learning. The basic idea of Scientific method being – making a hypothesis, conducting experiment, learning about hypothesis through experiment results. Later the idea seems to have inspired C I Lewis and through him to
Shewhart Walter Andrew Shewhart (pronounced like "shoe-heart"; March 18, 1891 – March 11, 1967) was an American physicist, engineer and statistician. He is sometimes also known as the ''grandfather of statistical quality control'' and also related to th ...
, giving a clear account of evolution period from 17th century. Deming credits a 1939 work by
Shewhart Walter Andrew Shewhart (pronounced like "shoe-heart"; March 18, 1891 – March 11, 1967) was an American physicist, engineer and statistician. He is sometimes also known as the ''grandfather of statistical quality control'' and also related to th ...
for the idea and over time eventually developed the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, which has the idea of deductive and inductive learning built into the learning and improvement cycle. Deming finally published the PDSA cycle in 1993, in ''The New Economics'' on p. 132.


Seven Deadly Diseases

The "Seven Deadly Diseases" include: # Lack of constancy of purpose # Emphasis on short-term profits # Evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review of performance # Mobility of management # Running a company on visible figures alone # Excessive medical costs # Excessive costs of warranty, fueled by lawyers who work for contingency fees "A Lesser Category of Obstacles" includes: # Neglecting long-range planning # Relying on technology to solve problems # Seeking examples to follow rather than developing solutions # Excuses, such as "our problems are different" # The mistaken belief that management skills can be taught in classes # Reliance on quality control departments rather than management, supervisors, managers of purchasing, and production workers # Placing blame on workforces who are responsible for only 15% of mistakes while the system designed by management is responsible for 85% of the unintended consequences # Relying on quality inspection rather than improving product quality Deming's advocacy of the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle, his 14 Points and Seven Deadly Diseases have had tremendous influence outside manufacturing and have been applied in other arenas, such as in the relatively new field of
sales process engineering Sales process engineering is the systematic design of sales processes done in order to make sales more effective and efficient.. It can be applied in functions including sales, marketing, and customer service Customer service is the assista ...
.


Analysis of enzyme kinetic data

Deming's collaboration with Hans Lineweaver and Dean Burk is possibly the least known of his work as a statistician, but it is relevant to what has become the most highly cited paper ever published in the ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'', which was written after the authors had consulted Deming about the proper way to analyze their data. Although they are credited with the introduction of the ''double-reciprocal plot'', in which the reciprocal rate is plotted against the reciprocal substrate concentration, they estimated the kinetic parameters by weighted linear regression with weights of the fourth power of the rates, as recommended by Deming. Unfortunately this (essential) part of their approach was quickly forgotten.


Personal life

Deming married Agnes Bell in 1922. She died in 1930, a little more than a year after they had adopted a daughter, Dorothy (died 1984). Deming made use of various private homes to help raise the infant, and following his marriage in 1932 to Lola Elizabeth Shupe (died 1986), with whom he coauthored several papers, he brought her back home to stay. Lola and he had two more children, Diana (born 1934) and Linda (born 1943). Deming was survived by Diana and Linda, along with seven grandchildren.


Death

Deming died in his sleep at the age of 93 in his Washington home from cancer on December 20, 1993. When asked, toward the end of his life, how he would wish to be remembered in the U.S., he replied, "I probably won't even be remembered." After a pause, he added, "Well, maybe ... as someone who spent his life trying to keep America from committing suicide."Hillkirk, J. World-famous quality expert dead at 93. ''USA Today'', December 21, 1993, pp. B1–2.


Works

* * * * * *


See also

* Analytic and enumerative statistical studies *
C. I. Lewis Clarence Irving Lewis (April 12, 1883 – February 3, 1964) was an American academic philosopher. He is considered the progenitor of modern modal logic and the founder of conceptual pragmatism. First a noted logician, he later branched into epis ...
*
Common cause and special cause Common and special causes are the two distinct origins of variation in a process, as defined in the statistical thinking and methods of Walter A. Shewhart and W. Edwards Deming. Briefly, "common causes", also called natural patterns, are the ...
*
Continual improvement process A continual improvement process, also often called a continuous improvement process (abbreviated as CIP or CI), is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. These efforts can seek "incrementalism, incremental" improvement ove ...
*
Epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
*
Joseph M. Juran Joseph Moses Juran (December 24, 1904 – February 28, 2008) was a Romanian-born American engineer, management consultant and author. He was an advocate for quality and quality management and wrote several books on the topics. He was the brother ...
*
Kaizen is a Japanese concept in business studies which asserts that significant positive results may be achieved due the cumulative effect of many, often small (and even trivial), improvements to all aspects of a company's operations. Kaizen is put ...
* Maestro concept *
Shewhart cycle PDCA or plan–do–check–act (sometimes called plan–do–check–adjust) is an iterative design and management method used in business for the control and Continual improvement process, continual improvement of processes and products. It is ...
*
Homer Sarasohn Homer Sarasohn, an IEEE Life Member (24 April 1916 – September 28, 2001), was an American engineer. When General Douglas MacArthur recruited him to re-establish the Japanese electronics industry, Mr. Sarasohn initiated the quality contro ...
*
Toyota Production System The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated socio-technical system, developed by Toyota, that comprises its management philosophy and practices. The TPS is a management system that organizes manufacturing and logistics for the automobile ...


References

Notes Bibliography * * * Delavigne Kenneth T. and J. Daniel Robertson, "Deming's Profound Changes: When Will the Sleeping Giant Awaken?" (PTR Prentice Hall, 1994), * * * * * Gitlow, Howard S., Shelly J. Gitlow, "The Deming Guide to Quality and Competitive Position" Prentice Hall Trade (January 1987) * Perry Gluckman, Diana Reynolds Roome, "Everyday Heroes: From Taylor to Deming: The Journey to Higher Productivity" SPC Press, Inc. (March 1990) * * * * * * William J. Latzko, David M. Saunders, "Four Days with Dr. Deming: A Strategy for Modern Methods of Management" Prentice Hall PTR (January 26, 1995) * Langley, Gerald J., Kevin M. Nolan, Clifford L. Norman, Lloyd P. Provost, Thomas W. Nolan, "The Improvement Guide: A Practical Approach to Enhancing Organizational Performance" Jossey-Bass (July 26, 1996) * * * * Salsburg, D. (2002) ''The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century'', W.H. Freeman / Owl Book. * * * * * Vertiz, Virginia C. (1993) A look at the quality management audit applying Dr. Deming's principles for system transformation. In V.C. Vertiz (Ed.) Education, Winter, 1993 * Vertiz, Virginia C. (1995) The other side of the man of quality: The pearl. Quality Progress, American Society for Quality Control. * Vertiz, Virginia C. (1994) Beware the quality skills and tools trap or learn to fish. Creating Quality K-12. * *


External links


Deming.org
The W. Edwards Deming Institute
W. Edwards Deming: A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress
* Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
* Archived a
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