William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American business theorist, composer, economist, industrial engineer, management consultant, statistician, and writer. Educated initially as an electrical engineer and later specializing in mathematical physics, he helped develop the sampling techniques still used by the United States Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He is also known as the father of the quality movement, known as "Lean manufacturing" today, and was hugely influential in post-WWII Japan, credited with revolutionizing Japan's industry and making it one of the most dominant economies in the world.[1][2] He is best known for his theories of management.[3]

Overview

Deming received a BS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wyoming at Laramie (1921), an MS degree 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 Bureau. While working under Gen. Douglas MacArthur as a census consultant to the Japanese government, he was asked to teach a short seminar on statistical process control (SPC) methods to members of the Radio Corps, at the invitation of Homer Sarasohn. During this visit, he was contacted by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) to talk directly to Japanese business leaders, not about SPC, but about his theories of management, returning to Japan for many years to consult. Later, he became a professor at New York University, while engaged as an independent consultant in Washington, D.C.

Deming was the author of Quality Productivity and Competitive Position, Out of the Crisis (1982–1986), and The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education (1993), and books on statistics and sampling.

He also played the flute and drums, and composed music throughout his life, including sacred choral compositions and an arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner."[4][5]

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.[6] The aim of the institute is to "Enrich society through the Deming philosophy." [7]

Deming's teachings and philosophy are clearly illustrated by examining the results they produced after they were adopted by Japanese industry,[8] as the following example (called the Ford-Mazda study) shows. Ford Motor Company was simultaneously manufacturing a car model with transmissions made in Japan (by Mazda) and the United States (by Ford). Soon after the car model was on the market (c. 1950),[9] Ford customers were requesting the model with Japanese transmissions over the US-made transmissions, 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 transmissions. Finally, Ford engineers decided to take apart the two different transmissions. The American-made car parts were all within specified tolerance levels. However, 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 (300 mm ± 3 mm)—then the Japanese parts were all within 1⁄16 of an inch (1.6 mm), less variation. This made the Japanese cars run more smoothly and customers experienced fewer problems.[10][11]

In his book The New Economics for Industry, Government, and Education[12] Deming championed the work of Walter Shewhart, including statistical process control, operational definitions, and what Deming called the "Shewhart Cycle",[13] which had evolved into Plan–Do–Study–Act (PDSA). Deming is well known for his work in Japan after WWII, particularly his work with the leaders of Japanese industry. That work began in July and August 1950, in Tokyo and at the Hakone Convention Center,[14] when Deming delivered speeches on what he called "Statistical Product Quality Administration". Many in Japan credit Deming as one of the inspirations for what has become known as the Japanese post-war economic miracle of 1950 to 1960, when Japan rose from the ashes of war on the road to becoming the second-largest economy in the world through processes partially influenced by the ideas Deming taught:[15]

  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 is best known in the United States for his 14 Points (Out of the Crisis, by W. Edwards Deming, preface) 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[16]

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. 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 United States at the time of his death in 1993.[17] 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.

Early life

William Edwards Deming was born in Sioux City, Iowa, but he was raised in Polk City, Iowa, on his grandfather Henry Coffin Edwards' chicken farm, then later on a 40-acre (16 ha) farm purchased by his father in Powell, Wyoming. He was the son of William Albert Deming and Pluma Irene Edwards,[18] 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.

He was a direct descendant of John Deming,[19] (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.

Career

Deming was a professor of statistics in New York University 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.

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). Deming found great inspiration in the work of Shewhart, the originator of the concepts of statistical control of processes and the related technical tool of the control chart, as Deming began to move toward the application of statistical methods to industrial production and management. Shewhart's idea of common and special causes of variation led directly to Deming's theory of management. 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. This key insight made possible his enormous influence on the economics of the industrialized world after 1950.[20]

In 1936, he studied under Sir Ronald Fisher and Jerzy Spława-Neyman at University College, London, England.

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.[21]

Deming developed the sampling techniques that were used for the first time during the 1940 U.S. Census, formulating the Deming-Stephan algorithm for iterative proportional fitting in the process.[22] During World War II, Deming was a member of the five-man Emergency Technical Committee. He worked with H.F. Dodge, A.G. Ashcroft, Leslie E. Simon, R.E. Wareham, and John Gaillard in the compilation of the American War Standards (American Standards Association Z1.1–3 published in 1942)[23] and taught SPC techniques to workers engaged in wartime production. Statistical methods were widely applied during World War II, but faded into disuse a few years later in the face of huge overseas demand for American mass-produced products.[citation needed]

Japan

In 1947, Deming was involved in early planning for the 1951 Japanese census. The Allied powers were occupying Japan, and he was asked by the United States Department of the Army to assist with the census. He was brought over at the behest of General Douglas MacArthur, who grew frustrated at being frequently unable to complete phone calls without the line going dead due to Japan's shattered postwar economy. While in Japan, his expertise in quality-control techniques, combined with his involvement in Japanese society, brought him an invitation from the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE).[18]

JUSE members had studied Shewhart's techniques, and as part of Japan's reconstruction efforts, they sought an expert to teach statistical control. From June–August 1950, Deming trained hundreds of engineers, managers, and scholars in SPC and concepts of quality. He also conducted at least one session for top management (including top Japanese industrialists of the likes of Akio Morita, the cofounder of Sony Corp.)[24] Deming's message to Japan's chief executives was that improving quality would reduce expenses, while increasing productivity and market share.[15] Perhaps the best known of these management lectures was delivered at the Mt. Hakone Conference Center in August 1950.

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

Deming declined to receive royalties from the transcripts of his 1950 lectures, so JUSE's board of directors established the Deming Prize (December 1950) to repay him for his friendship and kindness.[24] Within Japan, the Deming Prize continues to exert considerable influence on the disciplines of quality control and quality management.[25]

In 1960, the Prime Minister of Japan (Nobusuke Kishi), acting on behalf of Emperor Hirohito, awarded Deming Japan's Order of the Sacred Treasure, Second Class. The citation on the medal recognizes Deming's contributions to Japan's industrial rebirth and its worldwide success. The first section of the meritorious service record describes his work in Japan:[24]

The second half of the record lists his service to private enterprise through the introduction of epochal ideas, such as quality control and market survey techniques.

Among his many honors, an exhibit memorializing Deming's contributions and his famous Red Bead Experiment is on display outside the board room of the American Society for Quality.[26]

He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1991.

Later career

David Salsburg wrote:

"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."[27][28]

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. In 1980, he was featured prominently in an NBC TV 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.

The Ford Motor Company was one of the first American corporations to seek help from Deming. In 1981, Ford's sales were falling. Between 1979 and 1982, Ford had incurred $3 billion in losses. Ford's newly appointed Corporate Quality Director, Larry Moore, was charged with recruiting Deming to help jump-start a quality movement at Ford.[29] Deming questioned the 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% of all problems in developing better cars. In 1986, Ford came out with a profitable line of cars, the Taurus-Sable line. In a letter to Autoweek, 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."[30] By 1986, Ford had become the most profitable American auto company. For the first time since the 1920s, its earnings had exceeded those of arch-rival General Motors (GM). Ford had come to lead the American automobile industry in improvements. Ford's following years' earnings confirmed that its success was not a fluke, for its earnings continued to exceed GM and Chrysler's.

In 1982, Deming's book Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position was published by the MIT Center for Advanced Engineering, and was renamed Out of the Crisis in 1986. In it, he offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. 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 also by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved products and services. "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."

In 1982, Deming, along with Paul Hertz and Howard Gitlow of the University of Miami Graduate School of Business in Coral Gables, founded the W. Edwards Deming Institute for the Improvement of Productivity and Quality. In 1983, the institute trained consultants of Ernst and Whinney Management Consultants in the Deming teachings. E&W then founded its Deming Quality Consulting Practice which is still active today.

His methods and workshops regarding total quality management have had broad influence. For example, they were used to define how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Underground Storage Tanks program would work.[31]

Over the course of his career, Deming received dozens of academic awards, including another, honorary, PhD 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.[18]

Deming 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 famous 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 1990, Marshall Industries (NYSE:MI, 1984–1999) CEO Robert Rodin trained with the then 90-year-old Deming and his colleague Nida Backaitis. Marshall Industries' dramatic transformation and growth from $400 million to $1.8 billion in sales was chronicled in Deming's last book The New Economics, a Harvard Case Study, and Rodin's book, Free, Perfect and Now.

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.

Academic contributions

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

Personal life

Deming married Agnes Bell in 1922. She died in 1930, a little more than a year after they had adopted a daughter, Dorothy (died 1984). Deming made use of various private homes to help raise the infant, and following his marriage in 1932 to Lola Elizabeth Shupe (died 1986), with whom he coauthored several papers, he brought her back home to stay. Lola and he had two more children, Diana (born 1934) and Linda (born 1943). Deming was survived by Diana and Linda, along with seven grandchildren.[47]

Death

Deming died in his sleep at the age of 93 in his Washington home from cancer on December 20, 1993.[48] 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."[49]

Works

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "W. Edwards Deming of Powell, Wyo.: The Man Who Helped Shape the World". www.wyohistory.org. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  2. ↑ Rowen, Hobart (December 23, 1993). "JAPAN'S SECRET: W. EDWARDS DEMING". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  3. ↑ Best, M (August 1, 2005). "W Edwards Deming: father of quality management, patient and composer". Quality and Safety in Health Care. 14 (4): 310–312. doi:10.1136/qshc.2005.015289. ISSN 1475-3898. PMC 1744063. PMID 16076798.
  4. ↑ The Man: His Music. W. Edwards Deming Institute. Accessed: 2006-06-16.
  5. ↑ Horne, Joseph (April 5, 1993). "Quality Time for Deming's Music". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  6. ↑ "Collection: W. Edwards Deming Papers". Library of Congress. Retrieved August 24, 2026.
  7. ↑ . W. Edwards Deming Institute. Accessed: 2008-10-15.
  8. ↑ Cusumano, Michael A. (October 15, 1988). "Manufacturing Innovation: Lessons from the Japanese Auto Industry". MIT Sloan Management Review.
  9. ↑ The Washington Post/archive/opinions/12-23-1993 Japan's Secret W Edwards Deming
  10. ↑ Ford Transmission Quality Study Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAfUOfSY-S0
  11. ↑ Aguayo, Rafael (1991). Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality. Fireside. pp. 40–41.
  12. ↑ Deming, W. Edwards (1993). The New Economics for Industry, Government, and Education. Boston, Ma: MIT Press. p. 132. ISBN 0262541165.
  13. ↑ Deming, W. Edwards (2000). Out of the crisis (1. MIT Press ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. p. 88. ISBN 0262541157.
  14. ↑ "History of Total Quality Management: How Deming met Kaoru Ishikawa after World War II". October 28, 2007.
  15. 1 2 Deming's 1950 Lecture to Japanese Management. Translation by Teruhide Haga. Accessed: 2015-02-24.
  16. ↑ Deming, W. Edwards (1993). "4". The New Economics for Industry, Government, and Education. Boston: MIT Press. ISBN 0262541165.
  17. ↑ Deming of America (Documentary). Cincinnati, OH: The Petty Consulting/Productions. 1991.
  18. 1 2 3 The Man: Biography W. Edwards Deming Institute. Accessed: 2006-06-17.
  19. ↑ Deming, Judson Keith (1904). John Deming and His Descendants. Dubuque, Iowa: Press of Mathis-Mets Co. p. 4. OCLC 2285125.
  20. ↑ A Brief History of Dr. W. Edwards Deming British Deming Association SPC Press, Inc. 1992
  21. ↑ The Man: Articles: "The Three Careers of W. Edwards Deming." W. Edwards Deming Institute. Accessed: 2008-10-15.
  22. ↑ Deming, WE; Stephan, F (1940). "On a least squares adjustment of a sampled frequency table when the expected marginal totals are known" (PDF). Annals of Mathematical Statistics. 11 (4): 427–444. doi:10.1214/aoms/1177731829.
  23. ↑ Editor's Preface Elementary Principles of Statistical Control Quality The Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (transcript of Deming's 1950 lectures in Japan)
  24. 1 2 3 Noguchi, Junji (October 1995). "The Legacy of W. Edwards Deming". Quality Progress. 28 (12): 35–38.
  25. ↑ "What is the Deming Prize?". The W. Edwards Deming Institute. Archived from the original on June 29, 2010. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  26. ↑ "Red beads on display at ASQ headquarters". Deming Interaction. 9 (1): 2. Spring 2005.
  27. ↑ Salsburg (2002) p. 254
  28. ↑ Deming and his statistical methods are profiled by Salsburg(2002, Chapter 24)
  29. ↑ Walton, Mary (1986). The Deming Management Method. Penguin Group. pp. 138–139.
  30. ↑ Ford Embraces Six-Sigma Quality Goals. Archived March 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Accessed: 2006-07-31.
  31. ↑ Brand, Ron (April 24, 2013). "Transcript of 'The Underground Storage Tank Program's Early Management Challenges' video" (PDF). EPA Alumni Association. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  32. ↑ Dr. Deming's Management Training. Accessed: 2006-06-18.
  33. ↑ Deming, W. Edwards (2018). The New Economics: For Industry, Government, Education (Third ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-03900-0. OCLC 1029771304.
  34. ↑ Deming, W. Edwards. 1993. The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, second edition.
  35. ↑ Deming, W. Edwards (1986). Out of the Crisis. MIT Press. Bibcode:1986oucr.book.....D.
  36. ↑ Cohen, Phil. "Deming's 14 Points". Realisation. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  37. ↑ Reilly, Norman B. (1994). Quality: What Makes it Happen?. Van Nostrand Reinhold. p. 31. ISBN 0-442-01635-2.
  38. ↑ Deming. "PDSA Cycle – The W. Edwards Deming Institute". deming.org/. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  39. ↑ Deming, W. Edwards (November 1990). Personal letter to Ronald D. Moen.
  40. ↑ Deming. "The History and Evolution of the PDSA Cycle – The W. Edwards Deming Institute". deming.org/. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  41. ↑ Pruitt, W. Frazier; Imam, S.M. Waqas. "Expert Answers: April 2021 | ASQ". asq.org. 54 (4): 6.
  42. ↑ Walton, Mary (1986). The Deming Management Method. Penguin Group. p. 94.
  43. ↑ Selden, Paul H. (1997). Sales Process Engineering: A Personal Workshop. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press. pp. 60–74.
  44. ↑ Lineweaver, Hans; Burk, Dean; Deming, W. Edwards (1934). "The dissociation constant of nitrogen-nitrogenase in Azobacter". J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 56 (1): 225–230. Bibcode:1934JAChS..56..225L. doi:10.1021/ja01316a071.
  45. ↑ Almost 14000 citations by March 2023
  46. ↑ Lineweaver, H; Burk, D. (1934). "The Determination of Enzyme Dissociation Constants". J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 56 (3): 658–666. Bibcode:1934JAChS..56..658L. doi:10.1021/ja01318a036.
  47. ↑ "Timeline".
  48. ↑ Holusha, John (December 21, 1993). "W. Edwards Deming, Expert on Business Management, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
  49. ↑ Hillkirk, J. World-famous quality expert dead at 93. USA Today, December 21, 1993, pp. B1–2.

Bibliography

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming