Walter Shewhart - The Grandfather of Total Quality Management.

His Ideas

The original notions of Total Quality Management and continuous improvement trace back to a former
Bell Telephone employee named Walter Shewhart. One of W. Edwards Deming's teachers, he preached
the importance of adapting management processes to create profitable situations for both businesses and
consumers, promoting the utilization of his own creation -- the SPC control chart.
Dr. Shewhart believed that lack of information greatly hampered the efforts of control and management
processes in a production environment. In order to aid a manager in making scientific, efficient,
economical decisions, he developed Statistical Process Control methods. Many of the modern ideas
regarding quality owe their inspirtation to Dr. Shewhart.
He also developed the Shewhart Cycle Learning and Improvement cycle, combining both creative
management thinking with statistical analysis. This cycle contains four continuous steps: Plan, Do, Study
and Act. These steps (commonly refered to as the PDSA cycle), Shewhart believed, ultimately lead to total
quality improvement. The cycle draws its structure from the notion that constant evaluation of
management practices -- as well as the willingness of management to adopt and disregard unsupported
ideas --are keys to the evolution of a successful enterprise.
To find out more about some of the management tools that have been developed from Shewhart and other
quality pioneers, click on the SkyMark Management Tools page.
William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 December 20, 1993) was an American engineer, statistician,
professor, author, lecturer, and management consultant. Educated initially as an electrical engineer and later
specializing inmathematical physics, he helped develop the sampling techniques still used by the Department
of the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In his book The New Economics for Industry, Government,
and Education,[1] Deming championed the work of Dr. Walter Shewhart, including Statistical Process Control,
Operational Definitions, and what Deming called The Shewhart Cycle[2] which had by then evolved into "PDSA"
(Plan-Do-Study-Act). This was in response to the growing popularity of PDSA, which Deming viewed as
tampering with the meaning of Dr. Shewhart's original work[3]Deming is best known for his work in Japan after
WWII, particularly his work with the leaders of Japanese industry which began in August 1950 at the Hakone
Convention Center in Tokyo with a now seminal speech on what he called Statistical Product Quality
Administration, which many in Japan credit with being the inspiration for what has become known as
theJapanese post-war economic miracle of 1950 to 1960, rising from the ashes of war to become the second
most powerful economy in the world in less than a decade, founded on the ideas first taught to them by Dr
Deming:
1. That the problems facing manufacturers can be solved through cooperation, despite differences.
2. Marketing is not "sales," but the science of knowing what people who buy your product repeatedly
think of that product and whether they will buy it again, and why.
3. That In the initial stages of design, you must conduct market research, applying statistical techniques
for experimental and planning and inspection of samples.
4. And you must perfect the manufacturing process.[4]

Dr. Joseph Juran

Filed under: Introduction to total quality management Tags: corss-functional quality
improvement, fitness for use, Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers,Joseph Juran, Juran's 10 steps to
quality, JUSE, Quality Guru Nameer @ 7:40 am

Juran, like Deming, was invited to Japan in 1954 by the

Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). His lectures
introduced the management dimensions of planning, organizing, and
controlling and focused on the responsibility of management to
achieve quality and the need for setting goals.
Juran defines quality as fitness for use in terms of design, conformance, availability, safety, and field use. Thus, his
concept more closely incorporates the viewpoint of customer. He is prepared to measure everything and relies on
systems and problem-solving techniques. Unlike Deming, he focuses on top-down management and technical
methods rather than worker pride and satisfaction.
Jurans 10 steps to quality improvement are:
1.

Build awareness of opportunity to improve.

2.

Set-goals for improvement.

3.

Organize to reach goals.

4.

Provide training

5.

Carryout projects to solve problems.

6.

Report progress.

7.

Give recognition.

8.

Communicate results.

9.

Keep score.

10. Maintain momentum by making annual improvement part of the regular systems and processes of the
company.
Juran is founder is the founder of Juran Institute in Wilton, Connecticut. He promoted a concept known as Managing
Business Process Quality, which is a technique for executive cross-functional quality improvement. Juran contribution

may, over the longer term, may be greater than Demings because Juran has broader concept, while Demings focus
on statistical process control is more technical oriented.
Source: Total Quality Management by Joel E. Ross

Kaoru Ishikawa: One Step Further

Kaoru Ishikawa wanted to change the way people think about work. He urged managers to resist becoming content
with merely improving a product's quality, insisting that quality improvement can always go one step further. His
notion of company-wide quality control called for continued customer service. This meant that a customer would
continue receiving service even after receiving the product. This service would extend across the company itself in all
levels of management, and even beyond the company to the everyday lives of those involved. According to Ishikawa,
quality improvement is a continuous process, and it can always be taken one step further.
With his cause and effect diagram (also called the "Ishikawa" or "fishbone" diagram) this management leader made
significant and specific advancements in quality improvement. With the use of this new diagram, the user can see all
possible causes of a result, and hopefully find the root of process imperfections. By pinpointing root problems, this
diagram provides quality improvement from the "bottom up." Dr. W. Edwards Deming --one of Isikawa's colleagues - adopted this diagram and used it to teach Total Quality Control in Japan as early as World War II. Both Ishikawa
and Deming use this diagram as one the first tools in the quality management process.
Ishikawa also showed the importance of the seven quality tools: control chart, run chart, histogram, scatter diagram,
Pareto chart, and flowchart. Additionally, Ishikawa explored the concept of quality circles-- a Japanese philosophy
which he drew from obscurity into world wide acceptance. .Ishikawa believed in the importance of support and
leadership from top level management. He continually urged top level executives to take quality control courses,
knowing that without the support of the management, these programs would ultimately fail. He stressed that it would
take firm commitment from the entire hierarchy of employees to reach the company's potential for success. Another
area of quality improvement that Ishikawa emphasized is quality throughout a product's life cycle -- not just during
production. Although he believed strongly in creating standards, he felt that standards were like continuous quality
improvement programs -- they too should be constantly evaluated and changed. Standards are not the ultimate
source of decision making; customer satisfaction is. He wanted managers to consistently meet consumer needs; from
these needs, all other decisions should stem. Besides his own developments, Ishikawa drew and expounded on
principles from other quality gurus, including those of one man in particular: W. Edwards Deming, creator of the
Plan-Do-Check-Act model. Ishikawa expanded Deming's four steps into the following six:

Determine goals and targets.

Determine methods of reaching goals.
Engage in education and training.
Implement work.
Check the effects of implementation.
Take appropriate action.

Philip Crosby: The Fun Uncle of the Quality Revolution

"Do It Right the First Time"
Dr. Deming and Dr. Juran were the great brains of the quality revolution. Where Phil Crosby excelled was in finding a
terminology for quality that mere mortals could understand. His books, "Quality Without Tears" and "Quality is Free"
were easy to read, so people read them. He popularized the idea of the "cost of poor quality", that is, figuring out how
much it really costs to do things badly.
Like Frederick Taylor, Philip Crosby's ideas came from his experience on an assembly line. He focused on zero
defects, not unlike the focus of the modern Six Sigma Quality movement. Mr. Crosby was quick to point out, however,
that zero defects is not something that originates on the assembly line. To create a manufacturing process that has
zero defects management must set the tone and atmosphere for employees to follow. If management does not create a
system by which zero defects are clearly the objective then employees are not to blame when things go astray and
defects occur. The benefit for companies of such a system is a dramatic decrease in wasted resources and time spent
producing goods that consumer's do not want.
Mr. Crosby defined quality as a conformity to certain specifications set forth by management and not some vague
concept of "goodness." These specifications are not arbitrary either; they must be set according to customer needs and
wants.
Four Absolutes of Quality Management
1.
2.
3.
4.

Quality is defined as conformance to requirements, not as 'goodness' or 'elegance'.

The system for causing quality is prevention, not appraisal.
The performance standard must be Zero Defects, not "that's close enough".
The measurement of quality is the Price of Nonconformance, not indices.

Biography
Philip Crosby was Born in West Virginia in 1926. After serving in WWII and the Korean War he has worked for
Crosley, Martin-Marietta and ITT where he was corporate vice president for 14 years. Philip Crosby Associates, Inc.,
founded in 1979, was his management consulting firm that served served hundreds of companies. Since retiring in
1991 he has founded Career IV, Inc., Philip Crosby Associates II, Inc. and the Quality College. Phil Crosby died in
August, 2001, but his legacy will live on in better quality in thousands of organizations.
Here's an encomium from W. Noel Haskins-Hafer, a teacher of quality improvement: 'He was one of the warmest and
most focused people I ever had the pleasure to meet and his common-sense approach will be missed by many.'

Genichi Taguchi and Taguchi Methods - Practical, Rapid Quality

After WWII Japanese manufacturers were struggling to survive with very limited resources. If it were not for the
advancements of Taguchi the country might not have stayed afloat let alone flourish as it has. Taguchi revolutionized
the manufacturing process in Japan through cost savings. He understood, like many other engineers, that all
manufacturing processes are affected by outside influences, noise. However, Taguchi realized methods of identifying
those noise sources which have the greatest effects on product variability. His ideas have been adopted by successful
manufacturers around the globe because of their results in creating superior production processes at much lower
costs.
Here are some of the major contributions that Taguchi has made to the quality improvement world:

The Loss Function - Taguchi devised an equation to quantify the decline of a customer's perceived
value of a product as its quality declines. Essentially, it tells managers how much revenue they are
losing because of variability in their production process. It is a powerful tool for projecting the
benefits of a quality improvement program. Taguchi was the first person to equate quality with
cost.

Orthogonal Arrays and Linear Graphs - When evaluating a production process analysis will
undoubtedly identify outside factors or noise which cause deviations from the mean. Isolating
these factors to determine their individual effects can be a very costly and time consuming
process. Taguchi devised a way to use orthogonal arrays to isolate these noise factors from all
others in a cost effective manner.

Robustness - Some noise factors can be identified, isolated and even eliminated but others
cannot. For instance it is too difficult to predict and prepare for any possible weather condition.
Taguchi therefore referred to the ability of a process or product to work as intended regardless of
uncontrollable outside influences as robustness. He was pivotal in many companies' development
of products and processes which perform uniformly regardless of uncontrollable forces; an
obviously beneficial service.

Biography

Born on the first day of 1924, Genichi Taguchi studied textile engineering at Kiryu Technical College. After
WWII he worked for the Japanese Ministry of Public Health and Welfare and conducted the nation's first
study on health and nutrition. He also applied his quality improvement knowledge at Morinaga
Pharmaceutical and even worked for a candy maker, Morinaga Sieka, to reduce the melting properties of
caramel at room temperature.