THE AMERICANS WHO WENT TO JAPAN

1.1. W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993) placed great importance and responsibility on management, at both the individual and company level, believing management to be responsible for 94% of quality problems. His fourteen point plan is a complete philosophy of management that can be applied to small or large organisations in the public, private or service sectors:

• create constancy of purpose for continual improvement of products and service to society, allocating resources to provide for long range needs rather than only short term profitability;

• adopt the new philosophy. We can no longer live with commonly accepted levels of delays, mistakes, defective materials and workmanship;

• cease dependence on mass inspection. Instead, require statistical evidence that quality is built in;

• end lowest tender contracts. Reduce the number of suppliers for the same item by eliminating those that do not qualify with statistical and other evidence of quality;

• improve constantly and forever every process for planning, production, and service. Search continually for problems in order to improve every activity in the company, to improve quality and productivity, and thus to constantly decrease costs;

• institute modern methods of training on the job for all, including management, to make better use of every employee. New skills are required to keep up with changes in materials, methods, product and service design, machinery, techniques, and service;

• institute leadership. The responsibility of managers and supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality. Improvement of quality will automatically improve productivity;

• drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company;

• break down barriers between departments. People in different areas must work in teams to tackle problems that may be encountered with products or service;

• eliminate the use of slogans, posters and exhortations for the work force, demanding new levels of productivity, without providing methods;

• eliminate work standards that prescribe numerical quotas;

• remove barriers that stand between the hourly worker and their right to pride of workmanship;

• institute a vigorous programme of education and retraining;

• сlearly define top management's permanent commitment to ever improving quality and productivity, and their obligation to implement all of these principles.

He believed that adoption of, and action on, the fourteen points was a signal that management intended to stay in business. Deming also encouraged a systematic approach to problem solving and promoted the widely known Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle. The PDCA cycle is also known as the Deming cycle, although it was developed by a colleague of Deming,
Dr. Shewhart.

Original Quality Gurus

Plan what is needed

Do it

Check that it works

Act to correct any problems or improve performance