Dr. Deming was Born in 1900 and died in 1993.

Dr. Deming teaches that most quality issues are systemic (process related) and, therefore, the responsibility of management.  He is considered in industry as a "Quality Guru" who aided the Japanese recovery after WWII.

While his message is summarized in his 14 points and the usage of six-sigma control charts, he is stated to summarize his message as follows:

“If I had to reduce my message for management to just a few words, I’d say it all had to do with reducing variation.” - Deming

Dr. Deming is the author of several books and 171 papers. His books, Out of the Crisis (MIT/CAES, 1986) and The New Economics (MIT/CAES, 1994) have been translated into several foreign languages. Myriad books, films, and videotapes profile his life, his philosophy, and the successful application of his teachings worldwide. Dr. Deming's four-day seminars reached 10,000 people per year for over ten years.

Dr. W. Edwards Deming is known as the father of the Japanese post-war industrial revival and was regarded by many as the leading quality guru in the United States. 

 

Deming's 14 points are clearly described in the Deming Institute teachings but a much more concise version can be found illustrated at Pat Oliphant's site and below.  You can also find another list of 14 points at La Pine School District and MIT's CAES.

1. Constancy of purpose

2. Everybody wins

3. Design Quality in

4. Don't buy on price tag alone

5. Continuous improvement

6. Training for skills

7. Institute leadership

8. Drive out fear

9. Breakdown barriers

10. Eliminate slogans

11. Method - Remove hourly worker barriers

12. Joy in work - Remove management barriers

13. Continuing education

14. Accomplish the transformation

The following links will take you to the Deming Institute where you can learn more about Dr. Deming. 

• Biography: Brief overview of his life, education and family.

• Resumes: These two resumes provide an interesting contrast in Dr. Deming's approach to clients and his growth as a consultant.

• His View: Dr. Deming wrote several autobiographical pieces on various aspects of his life. They provide good insight into his life and the era in which he lived.

• His Music: Dr. Deming composed music throughout his life. The first piece included was composed at age 35. His last piece was written when he was 89.

• Articles: Included are a variety of articles written about Dr. Deming's teachings, his life and impact on society and place in history.

• Teaching: Key excerpts from Out of The Crisis, on The Deming System of Profound Knowledge and a condensation of the original 14 Points for Management.

• Media Gallery : Currently provides a pictorial overview of his travels. It includes recently restored photographs of meetings with the Japanese business leaders.

Another excellent biography taken from "Out of the Crisis" is listed at http://caes.mit.edu/deming/about-deming.html

Other highlights include:

• Born in Sioux City, Iowa in 1900; Died in 1993

• First job at 12 for $1.25 per week to help his very poor family

• BS in Physics from the University of Wyoming in 1921 (no tuition).

• Taught at the Colorado School of Mines for two years

• MS degree in Mathematics & Physics from Univ.of Colorado, 1924

• Doctoral degree in Mathematical Physics from Yale in 1928 with dissertation on the packaging of nucleons in the helium atom.

• Met Walter A. Shewhart while studying for his Ph.D. and working for Western Electric in Chicago.

• Developed a highly successful sampling method for the Census Bureau in 1939 lectured on Quality Control in the U.S.

• Went to Japan in 1947 to help the U.S. Secretary of War conduct a population census.

• Developed “14 points” to shift world perception that Japan produced cheap, shoddy imitations to that of innovative quality products.
   

Two of his more famous books are:

and

• Deming Electronic Network Moderated view archive by emailing den.list-request@deming.eng.clemson.edu and add in the subject: subscribe.
  A must for those interested in the implications of W. Edwards Deming's ideas. Stimulating discussion of the philosophy and implementation issues.
   

• Curious Cat Management Improvement Contacts.  Receive email on topics you select (including Deming's ideas). Sign up using: www.curiouscat.net/contacts

Net citizen Kurt D. Roudabush, CQMgr, CQE, CQA, CSQE from Grand Rapids Michigan explains that Deming's "Red Bead" experiment consists of a bowl of beads (mostly white, but with a percentage of red beads mixed in). 

Roles are assigned and people are instructed to "Make" white beads by dipping a paddle with holes in it into the bowl and filling each hole.  They of course do not get all white beads and are chastised or praised depending on the number of red beads.   They have no control over the process. 

This illustrates the predicament of many people who are at the mercy of a process that is not capable, but are expected by their management to produce good parts.

Net citizen Kurt D. Roudabush, CQMgr, CQE, CQA, CSQE from Grand Rapids Michigan explains that Deming's funnel experiment illustrates the effects of "tampering" with process and increasing variation rather than decreasing it.

The team based experiment helps illustrate that managers can often tamper rather than manage when they act without understanding the systems they manage.  The tool can be used to help managers see that they may make silly demands of the people in their organizations.  This has often helped open managers minds to why they should learn about the Deming's management theories.   See http://www.curiouscat.com/management/redbeadexperiment.cfm for more information.

The pictures below illustrate the apparatus on the left and the results on the right.  Adjusting the funnel after every marble (tinkering or tampering) in an effort to compensate for variation seen tends to create even more variation.   

An instructor with CMTC stated that this experiment can also be performed using darts.  He went on to say that four teams are best used as follows:

• One team is instructed to do nothing but drop darts.

• The second team is told to calculate the error and adjust back to target for the next dart.

• The third team is told to calculate the error and over correct by twice that error for the next dart.

• The fourth team is told to calculate the error and make a correction but in the opposite direction for the next dart.

• Other teams would do other variations on this theme. 

As published at La Pine School District, Deming's 7 deadly diseases are as follows:

1. Lack of constancy of purpose to plan product and service that will have a market and keep the company in business and provide jobs.

2. Emphasis on short-term profits: short term thinking, fed by fear of unfriendly takeover, and by plush from bankers and owners, for dividends.

3. Personal review system, or evaluation of performance, merit rating, annual review, or annual appraisal, by whatever name, for people in management, the effects of which are devastating.  Management by fear would be better,  than management by objective without a method for accomplishment.

4. Mobility of management: job hopping.

5. Use of visible figures only for management, with little or no consideration of figures that are unknown or unknowable.

6. Excessive medical costs.

7. Excessive costs of warranty, fueled by lawyers that work contingency fees.

Scherkenbach, William (1993). "The Deming route to quality and productivity". Quality Press. Milwaukee, WI. pg 116-118 lists how design of experiments apply to Deming's learning cycle step #1. Two interesting excerpts are as follows:

• If you had nine factors that you need to vary at only two levels, you will need 512 experimental runs (2^9) and you still wont measure interaction effects if OFAT methodology is followed.  A well-planned experiment could reduce this to 32 tests and begin to get interaction effect information. Time and money are saved and information is gained. Because of short-term performance pressures, today's manager might not approve a single OFAT test but after understanding the power of DOE, he/she is more likely to approve the 32 run test. Therefore, the real significance of DOE becomes a 32 fold increase in testing (1 to 32 runs) vs. a four fold decrease in testing (512 to 32 runs).

Dr. Deming is often known as the father of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) as he broadened Shewhart's cycle in his teachings to Japan.  See more details at http://dtiinfo1.dti.gov.uk/mbp/bpgt/m9ja00001/m9ja000016.html#2 

• "A company can not buy its way into quality -- it must be led into quality by top management." -- W. Edwards Deming from http://caes.mit.edu/deming/ootc.html.

• “If I had to reduce my message for management to just a few words, I’d say it all had to do with reducing variation.” - Deming

Send Kim a paragraph or two on what Deming means to you, your experiences related to one of the 14 points, links / books / or articles you liked, etc.  

• Delta Design:  We added training of Deming's accomplishments to our new hire training plan for several years.   Most new hires have already heard of Deming and know him to be a "Quality Guru".  Many also know that he aided the Japanese recovery after WWII because this type of training is often included in other types of training such as JIT, Lean, Kaizen, etc.  -- KN April 2004

The following awards are outlined in "Out of the Crisis" and at http://caes.mit.edu/deming/about-deming.html.

• The JUSE Deming Prize has be given out in Japan since 1960.

• President Reagan awarded the National Medal of Technology to Dr. Deming in 1987.

• Deming received in 1988 the Distinguished Career in Science award from the National Academy of Sciences.

• Deming received the Shewhart Medal from the American Society for Quality Control in 1956.

• The Samuel S. Wilks Award from the American Statistical Association in 1983.

• The Metropolitan section of the American Statistical Association established in 1980 the annual Deming Prize for improvement of quality and productivity.

• Dr. Deming was was elected in 1983 to the National Academy of Engineering.

• Dr. Deming was elected in 1986 to the Science and Technology Hall of Fame in Dayton.

• Dr. Deming was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1991.

Developed and published in Deming's last book.  See excerpts at http://caes.mit.edu/deming/dspk.html. 

Per Kim's interpretation of our June 2004 workshop speaker (Dr. Bellows) who attended Deming's lectures, Deming's philosophy was meant to steer us toward holistic thinking where we think less about the quality of individual parts and more about how the parts fit together as a whole, as systems, and even how they affect those in the community. 

One rumor floating around is that Deming worked with Malcolm Baldrige.  Joyce Orsini, President of The W. Edwards Deming Institute and the Deming Cooperative  contacted us via email and says:

"I just happened across a question that you pose on your website about whether W. Edwards Deming worked with Malcolm Baldrige.  He did not".

How well do you know Deming's writings?

See a whole list of Deming crossword puzzles located at http://www.deming.edu/DP/DPMain.cfm published by the Deming Cooperative with questions taken from Deming's books. 

• Joyce Orsini, PhD; President of The W. Edwards Deming Institute and the Deming Cooperative  contacted us via email regarding Deming and Malcolm Baldridge.

• Pat Oliphant's Illustrations of Deming's 14 Points

• La Pine School District

• Scherkenbach, William W.  (1993).  "The Deming Route to Quality and Productivity".  Quality Press.  Milwaukee WI.  pp.116-118.

• Deming, Edwards W.  (1982).  "Out of the Crisis".  MIT Center for Advance Engineering Study.  Cambridge, MA.

• Deming, Edwards W.  (1982).  "The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education".  MIT Center for Advance Engineering Study.  Cambridge, MA.

• MIT Center for Advance Educational Services:  See a bio, his 14 points, System of Profound Knowledge, and references to other related products.

• Department of Trade and Industry website dedicated to Dr. Deming

• Net citizen John Hunter of the Curious Cat's Deming Resource site

• Net citizen Kurt D. Roudabush, CQMgr, CQE, CQA, CSQE; Grand Rapids, Mi contributed to the funnel and red bead experiment sections.
• 14 point summary and picture site at http://www.lii.net/deming.html