W. Edwards Deming

W. Edwards Deming

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 in mathematical physics, he helped develop the sampling techniques still used by the U.S. Department of the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Deming is best known for his work in Japan after World War II, particularly his work with the leaders of Japanese industry. Many in Japan credit Deming as the inspiration for what has become known as the Japanese post-war economic miracle of 1950 to 1960, when Japan rose from the ashes of war to start on the road to becoming the second largest economy in the world through processes founded on the ideas Deming taught. In the United States, Deming's work was foundational in the development of Total Quality Management, first used to improve the Navy's operational effectiveness and later revolutionizing management in the private sector and reinvigorated industries during the 1980s.

Life

William Edwards Deming was born in Sioux City, Iowa on October 14, 1900. His father's name was also "William" so he was called "Edwards" (the maiden name of his mother, Pluma Irene Edwards). He was raised in Polk City, Iowa on his grandfather's chicken farm, then later in Powell, Wyoming. He was a direct descendant of John Deming, (1615–1705) an early Puritan settler and original patentee of the Connecticut Colony, and Honor Treat, the daughter of Richard Treat (1584–1669) an early New England settler, Deputy to the Connecticut Legislature and also a Patentee of the Royal Charter of Connecticut, 1662. 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.

In 1917, Deming enrolled in the University of Wyoming at Laramie, graduating in 1921 with a Bachelors in electrical engineering. In 1925, he received a Masters from the University of Colorado, and in 1928, a Ph.D. from Yale University. Both graduate degrees were in mathematics and mathematical physics.

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

Deming received a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Wyoming at Laramie (1921), an MS from the University of Colorado (1925), and a PhD from Yale University (1928). Both graduate degrees were in mathematics and physics. He had an internship at Western Electric's Hawthorne Works in Cicero, Illinois while studying at Yale. He later worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Census Department.

While working under General Douglas MacArthur as a census consultant to the Japanese government, he was asked to teach a short seminar on statistical process control methods to members of the Radio Corps, at the invitation of Sarasohn. During this visit he was contacted by JUSE, the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers, to talk directly to Japanese business leaders, not about Statistical Process Control, but about his theories of management. He returned to Japan for many years to consult.

Later, Deming became a professor at New York University while engaged as an independent consultant in Washington, D.C. He served as a professor of statistics at New York University's graduate school of business administration (1946–1993), and taught at Columbia University's graduate school of business (1988–1993). He also was a consultant for private business.

Deming loved music. He played the flute and drums and composed music throughout his life, including sacred choral compositions.

The Demings lived in Washington, D. C. in the house that they bought in 1936. Lola Deming died on June 25, 1986. Deming died in his sleep at the age of 93 in his Washington home from cancer on December 20, 1993.

Work

Deming worked as a mathematical physicist at the United States Department of Agriculture (1927–1939), and was a statistical adviser for the United States Census Bureau (1939–1945). He was a professor of statistics at New York University's graduate school of business administration (1946-1993), and he taught at Columbia University's graduate School of business (1988-1993). He also was a consultant for private business.

Early Career

In 1927 Deming was introduced to Walter A. Shewhart of the Bell Telephone Laboratories by C.H. Kunsman of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Shewhart was the originator of the concepts of statistical control of processes and the related technical tool of the control chart, and as Deming began to move toward the application of statistical methods to industrial production and management he found great inspiration in Shewhart's work. 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. Shewhart's idea of common and special causes of variation led directly to Deming's theory of management.

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.

In his book The New Economics for Industry, Government, and Education, Deming championed the work of Walter Shewhart, including statistical process control, operational definitions, and what Deming called the "Shewhart Cycle" which evolved into PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act).

Deming developed the sampling techniques that were used for the first time during the 1940 U.S. Census. He taught statistical process control (SPC) techniques to workers engaged in wartime production.

Work in Japan

After World War II (1947), Deming was involved in early planning for the 1951 Japanese Census. He was asked by the Department of the Army to assist in this census. While he was there, his expertise in quality control techniques, combined with his involvement in Japanese society, led to his receiving an invitation by the Japanese Union of 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. During June-August 1950, Deming trained hundreds of engineers, managers, and scholars in statistical process control (SPC) and concepts of quality. Deming's message to Japan's chief executives: improving quality will reduce expenses while increasing productivity and market share. Perhaps the best known of these management lectures was delivered at the Mt. Hakone Conference Center in August of 1950, on what he called "Statistical Product Quality Administration."

A number of Japanese manufacturers applied his techniques widely, and experienced theretofore unheard of levels of quality and productivity. The improved quality combined with the lowered cost created new international demand for Japanese products.

Many in Japan credit Deming as the inspiration for what has become known as the Japanese post-war economic miracle of 1950 to 1960, when Japan rose from the ashes of war to start on the road to becoming the second largest economy in the world through processes founded on the ideas Deming taught:

1. Better design of products to improve service
2. Higher level of uniform product quality
3. Improvement of product testing in the workplace and in research centers
4. Greater sales through side [global] markets

Deming donated his royalties from the transcripts of his 1950 lectures to JUSE, so JUSE's board of directors established the Deming Prize (December 1950) to repay him for his friendship and kindness. The Deming Prize, especially the Deming Application Prize that is given to companies, has exerted an immeasurable influence directly or indirectly on the development of quality control and quality management in Japan.

In 1960, the Prime Minister of Japan (Nobusuke Kishi), acting on behalf of Emperor Hirohito, awarded Deming Japan’s Order of the Sacred Treasures, Second Class. The citation on the medal recognizes Deming's contributions to Japan’s industrial rebirth and its worldwide success.

Later work in the U.S.

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. Finally, in 1980, he was featured prominently in an NBC 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 recruited Deming to help jump-start its quality movement. Ford's sales were falling, and between 1979 and 1982 Ford had incurred $3 billion in losses. Deming questioned their 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 percent of all problems in developing better cars. In a letter to Autoweek Magazine, Donald Petersen, 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.

In 1982, Deming, as author, had his book published by the MIT Center for Advanced Engineering as Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position, which was renamed to Out of the Crisis in 1986. He argued that 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 by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service: "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."

Deming and his staff 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 infamous 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 to promote operational excellence in business through the development of research, best practices and strategic planning.

In 1993, he founded the W. Edwards Deming Institute in Washington, D.C., where the Deming Collection at the U.S. Library of Congress includes an extensive audiotape and videotape archive. The aim of the Institute is to foster understanding of the Deming System of Profound Knowledge to advance commerce, prosperity, and peace.

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.

Deming's Philosophy

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

"Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs (by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation while increasing customer loyalty). The key is to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces."

System of Profound Knowledge

Deming is best known in the United States for his "Fourteen Points For The Transformation Of Management" 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:

1. Appreciating a system
2. Understanding variation
3. Psychology
4. Epistemology, the theory of knowledge

The System of Profound Knowledge comes from W. Edwards Deming. Dr Deming said that hard work is not enough. What is needed is a transformation of the prevailing style of management. The System of Profound Knowledge has four parts.

1. Appreciation of a system: understanding the overall processes involving suppliers, producers, and customers (or recipients) of goods and services;
2. Knowledge of variation: the range and causes of variation in quality, and use of statistical sampling in measurements;
3. Theory of knowledge: the concepts explaining knowledge and the limits of what can be known (see also: epistemology);
4. Knowledge of psychology: concepts of human nature.

Deming's "Profound Knowledge" is a system. This means that the four parts interact with one another. Real transformation will only start when there has been some progress in all parts.

Key principles

Deming offered fourteen key principles to managers for transforming business effectiveness. The points were first presented in his book Out of the Crisis. Although Deming does not use the term in his book, it is credited with launching the Total Quality Management movement.

Deming 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."

Deming offered fourteen key principles for management for transforming business effectiveness. In summary:

1. Create constancy of purpose for the improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive, stay in business, and provide jobs.
2. Adopt a new philosophy of cooperation (win-win) in which everybody wins and put it into practice by teaching it to employees, customers and suppliers.
3. Cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve quality. Instead, improve the process and build quality into the product in the first place.
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag alone. Instead, minimize total cost in the long run. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, based on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
5. Improve constantly, and forever, the system of production, service, planning, of any activity. This will improve quality and productivity and thus constantly decrease costs.
6. Institute training for skills.
7. Adopt and institute leadership for the management of people, recognizing their different abilities, capabilities, and aspiration. The aim of leadership should be to help people, machines, and gadgets do a better job. Leadership of management is in need of overhaul, as well as leadership of production workers.
8. Drive out fear and build trust so that everyone can work more effectively.
9. Break down barriers between departments. Abolish competition and build a win-win system of cooperation within the organization. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team to foresee problems of production and use that might be encountered with the product or service.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets asking for zero defects or 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.
11. Eliminate numerical goals, numerical quotas and management by objectives. Substitute leadership.
12. Remove barriers that rob people of joy in their work. This will mean abolishing the annual rating or merit system that ranks people and creates competition and conflict.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job.

Legacy

Over the course of his career, Deming received dozens of academic awards, including another, honorary, Ph.D. from Oregon State University. In 1987 he was awarded the National Medal of Technology: "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.

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 shows. Ford Motor Company was simultaneously manufacturing a car model with transmissions made in Japan and the United States. Soon after the car model was on the market, Ford customers were requesting the model with Japanese transmission over the US-made transmission, 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 transmission. Finally, Ford engineers decided to take apart the two different transmissions. The American-made car parts were all within specified tolerance levels. On the other hand, 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—then the Japanese parts were all within 1/16 of an inch, less variation. This made the Japanese cars run more smoothly and customers experienced fewer problems.

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.

The Deming Prize is a global quality award that recognizes both individuals for their contributions to the field of Total Quality Management (TQM) and businesses that have successfully implemented TQM. It is the oldest and most widely recognized quality award in the world. It was established in 1951 to honor W. Edwards Deming who contributed greatly to Japan’s proliferation of statistical quality control after World War II. His teachings helped Japan build its foundation by which the level of Japan’s product quality has been recognized as the highest in the world, was originally designed to reward Japanese companies for major advances in quality improvement. Over the years it has grown, under the guidance of the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) to where it is now also available to non-Japanese companies, albeit usually operating in Japan, and also to individuals recognized as having made major contributions to the advancement of quality. The awards ceremony is broadcast every year in Japan on national television.

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 U.S. in the last years of his life. 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." President Ronald Reagan awarded him the National Medal of Technology in 1987. The following year, the National Academy of Sciences gave Deming the Distinguished Career in Science award.

David Salsburg wrote of Deming:

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.

W. Edwards Deming developed the System of Profound Knowledge as a comprehensive theory for management. For more than 40 years, Deming served as a revered consultant in statistical studies with a worldwide practice. His clients included railways, telephone companies, carriers of motor freight, manufacturing companies, hospitals, legal firms, government agencies and research organizations.

Although Deming passed away in December 1993 at the age of 93, his core principles are enduring - from quality-centric management to business process reengineering to revenue optimization.

Major publications

• Deming, W. Edwards. Statistical Adjustment of Data. Dover Publications, 2011 (original 1843). ISBN 978-0486646855
• Deming, W. Edwards. Some Theory of Sampling. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2010 (original 1950). ISBN 978-0486646848
• Deming, W. Edwards. Out of the Crisis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000 (original 1986). ISBN 978-0262541152
• Deming, W. Edwards. The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000 (original 1993). ISBN 978-0262541169

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Aguayo, Rafael. Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality. Wichita, KS: Fireside edition, 1991. ISBN 0671746219
• Baker, Edward M. Scoring a Whole in One: People in Enterprise Playing in Concert. Mississauga, Ontario: Crisp Learning, 1999. ISBN 1560525495
• Delavigne, Kenneth T., and J. Daniel Robertson. Deming's Profound Changes: When Will the Sleeping Giant Awaken? Upper Saddle River, NJ: PTR Prentice Hall, 1994. ISBN 0132926903
• Deming, Judson Keith. Genealogy of the descendants of John Deming of Wethersfield Connecticut. Book on Demand Ltd., 2013. ISBN 978-5518875180
• Evans, James R., and William M. Lindsay. The Management and Control of Quality. West Group, 1993. ISBN 978-0314008640
• Gabor, Andrea. The Man Who Discovered Quality: How W. Edwards Deming Brought the Quality Revolution to America. New York, NY: Penguin, 1992. ISBN 0140165282
• Gitlow, Howard S., and Shelly J. Gitlow. The Deming Guide to Quality and Competitive Position. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1987. ISBN 0131984411
• Gluckman, Perry, and Diana Reynolds Roome. Everyday Heroes: From Taylor to Deming: The Journey to Higher Productivity. Knoxville, TN: SPC Press Inc., 1990. ISBN 0945320078
• Haller, Harold S. Managing with Profound Knowledge: A Management Process Based on the Deming Management Theory. Cleveland, OH: Harold S. Haller & Company, 1993. ASIN B0006R22PS
• Joiner, Brian L. Fourth Generation Management: The New Business Consciousness. Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill, 1994. ISBN 0070327157
• Kilian, Cecelia S. The World of W. Edwards Deming. 2nd ed. Knoxville, TN: SPC Press, Inc., 1992. ISBN 0945320299
• Kohn, Alfie. No Contest: The Case Against Competition. Wilmington, MA: Mariner Books, 1992. ISBN 0395631254
• Kohn, Alfie. Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes. Wilmington, MA: Mariner Books, 1999. ISBN 0618001816
• Latzko, William J., and David M. Saunders. Four Days with Dr. Deming: A Strategy for Modern Methods of Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR, 1995. ISBN 0201633663
• Langley, Gerald J., and Kevin M. Nolan, and Clifford L. Norman, and Lloyd P. Provost, and Thomas W. Nolan. The Improvement Guide: A Practical Approach to Enhancing Organizational Performance. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1996. ISBN 0787902578
• Mann, Nancy. Keys to Excellence: The Story of the Deming Philosophy. 3rd ed. Clayton, DE: Prestwick Books, 1989. ISBN 1852510978
• Neave, Henry R. The Deming Dimension. Knoxville, TN: SPC Press, Inc., 1990. ISBN 0945320086
• Orsini, Joyce (ed.). The Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality. McGraw-Hill Education, 2012. ISBN 978-0071790222
• Salsburg, David. The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century. Holt Paperbacks, 2002. ISBN 978-0805071344
• Scherkenbach, William W. Demings Road to Continual Improvement. Knoxville, TN: SPC Press, Inc., 1991. ISBN 0945320108
• Scholtes, Peter R. The Leader's Handbook: Making Things Happen, Getting Things Done. Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill, 1997. ISBN 0070580286
• Shewhart, Walter A. Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1939. ISBN 0486652327
• Shewhart, Walter A. Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product/50th Anniversary Commemorative Issue. Milwaukee, WI: American Society for Quality, 1930. ISBN 0873890760
• Tribus, Myron. Quality First: Selected Papers on Quality and Productivity Improvement. 4th ed. Alexandria, VA: National Society of Professional Engineers, 1992. ISBN 9993853232
• Walton, Mary. The Deming Management Method. New York, NY: The Putnam Publishing Group, 1986. ISBN 0399550003
• Wheeler, Donald J. Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos. 2nd ed. Knoxville, TN: SPC Press Inc., 1999. ISBN 0945320531

External links

All links retrieved

• W. Edwards Deming Institute.
• "Quality As Defined By Deming" Lecture by Newt Gingrich.
• W. Edwards Deming ASQ.
• The W. Edwards Deming Center for Quality, Productivity, and Competitiveness

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