Highlights
William Edwards Deming was born in 1900 in Sioux City, Iowa, was raised in the community of Polk City, Iowa, on his grandfather Henry Coffin Edwards' chicken farm until his parents bought a 40-acre chicken farm east of Yellowstone Park near Powell, Wyoming.
His parents were well-educated and emphasized the importance of education to their children. His mother had studied music in San Francisco and was a musician. His dad had studied mathematics and law.
Demings earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of Wyoming, a Master’s degree from the University of Colorado, and a PhD from Yale University. Both graduate degrees were in mathematics and physics.
His PhD thesis was a study of the disconnect between production and quality. The mind set was, especially in industry, was the more time a business allocated to quality production, the less the production. Likewise, the less time devoted to quality production, the greater the production.
Deming’s thesis research was to quantify the relationship between production and quality. His theory was that if quality was demanded at every level, every step of any production process, there would be fewer production problems, resulting in more units of higher quality in less time.
Deming said the key to rapid production of high quality anything was to start with the highest quality inputs, use only quality machines that are adjusted and operated exactly as intended by people who know everything they need to know about that machine as far as adjustments, operational capabilities, maintenance schedules, etc.
For his thesis research, Deming was able to get several businesses to try his theory and the results were mind blowingly positive.
In his book, Out of Crisis, Deming presented 14 key principles to managers for transforming business effectiveness. These points became known as Total Quality Management 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. 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, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
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 workforce asking for zero defects 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 workforce.
Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute with leadership.
Eliminate management by objective. 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. 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 abolish the annual or merit rating and of management by objectives
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."
Deming said supervisors need to become leaders and teachers trusted by those working for them because the supervisors need to know everything their team members need to know and willingly share it; their team members are the most important people in the business because the team members make everything happen.
Deming went to major U.S. manufacturers with his research results and he was rejected at every presentation with, “We don’t have time for quality! We have to concentrate on production!”
General Douglas MacArthur, was the postwar manager of Japan. He grew frustrated at being unable to complete so little as a phone call without the line going dead due to Japan's shattered postwar economy. His investigation into the phone problems revealed Japan’s production of everything was 100% centered on production and no effort was given to quality.
MacArther had read about Deming’s 14 points and summoned him to Japan in 1947. More on that later.
The first time Roger heard of Deming’s 14 points was a 4,000 sow farrow to finish operation in Utah had adopted Deming Business Management. We will continue to share Deming’s teachings and what his management concept can do for your operation. It will be worth your while to read and consider adoption to your operation.
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