Guru of Quality Management - WALTER ANDREW SHEWHART

WALTER ANDREW SHEWHART:  Father of Statistical Quality Control

BACKGROUND

Education

Walter Andrew Shewhart’s background was not out of the ordinary.  He was born to Antonton and Esta Barney Shewhart on March 1891.  He was Illinois-grown and received his bachelor and masters degrees from the University of Illinois.  However, in 1914, when he married Edna Hart, the 23-year old moved to California, where three years later, he earned his doctoral degree in physics “while studying as a Whiting Fellow” from the University of California.

Work Experience

Between master’s and PhD degrees, he had teaching stints at the University of Illinois, University of California at Berkeley, and the now referred to as Wisconsin State University.

 In 1918, however, he returned to Illinois to join Western Electric Company to work in its inspection engineering department.  The Western Electric Company manufactured telephone hardware for Bell Telephone where engineers worked at improving the “reliability of their transmission systems”. Then, amplifiers and other equipment were buried underground, thus requiring reduction of   the frequency of breakdowns and malfunctions.  

Upon studying existent processes, Shewhart reached conclusions and suggested that every process shows degrees of variation because “no two things can be produced exactly alike”.  He categorized these variations as chance cause variation and assignable cause variation.  Chance cause variation is inherent in the process, random in nature, and uncontrollable.  “Any process that operates with only chance cause variation is said to be in a state of statistical control.  Once a process in in statistical control, adjustments  can be made to minimize the random variation, which will improve the process.  Assignable cause variation is a variation that is controlled by some outside influence of special cause, such as a change in material, operator, tool setting, tool wear or other phenomena.  Any process that operates with assignable cause variation is said to be out of control.  By using Shewhart’s control charts, outside influenced can be identified and controlled.” This principle birthed the modern scientific study of process control.

In 1925, Shewhart moved to the Bell Telephone Laboratories and advanced his theories and to include principles of statistics, engineering, and economics.  In 1931, he published Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Products.

In 1933, the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) adopted Shewhart’s charts and advocated to improve production during the World War II.  He was made consultant of the US War Department, United Nations, and India.  In the years that followed he lectured on quality control and applied statistics in India, London, and in graduate schools of the US Department of Agriculture.

Between 1941-1942, W. Edwards Deming made a “systematic critique of data-based management”  based on Shewhart’s ideas.  Deming championed Shewhart’s methods, which was later named Shewhart Cycle, when he worked as industrial consultant for the Japanese and later for the Americans from 1950 to 1990.  Deming’s strategy gave rise to the “dramatic increase in Japanese productivity” for the period.

In the 1990s, his work was repackaged and incorporated in the Six Sigma Approach by “a third generation of industrial engineers and managers”.

Shewhart received many honors and awards that include: Holley Medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASQ’s 1st Honorary Member, Founding Member and Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, Fellow of the American Statistical Association, Fellow of the International Statistical Institute, Fellow of the Royal Society of Mechanical Engineers.

PUBLICATION/S

1.       Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product (1931)

Presented in the book are the fundamental concepts and concepts of statistical control; ways of expressing quality  of product (a section containing a discourse that has been described as a masterpiece on the meaning of quality); the basis for specification of quality control; sampling fluctuations in quality; allowable variability in quality (which contains the first fully developed use of control charts); and quality control in practice.

CONTRIBUTIONS

Shewhart fathered or even grandfathered total quality management.  His ideas were developed  and used as basis for other quality control practices by gurus of management specifically by Deming.  In particular, he contributed to the field of management:

Statistical Process Control Methods.  These methods are applicable to varied fields. “SPC is based on the idea that these attributes have two sources of variation: natural (also known as common) and assignable (also known as special) causes.  If the observed variability of the attributes of a process is within the range of variability from natural causes, the process is said to be under statistical control.  The practitioner of SPC tracks the variability of the process to be controlled.  When that variability exceeds the range to be expected from natural causes, one then identifies and corrects assignable causes.” The key steps for implementing Statistical Process Control are:

o        Identify defined processes

o        Identify measurable attributes of the process

o        Characterize natural variation of attributes

o        Track process variation

o        If the process is in control, continue to track

o        If the process is not in control:

-          Identify assignable cause

-          Remove assignable cause

-          Return to “Track process variation

Shewhart Cycle Learning and Improvement Cycle.  Combining both management thinking and statistics, Shewhart developed this cycle with four steps:  Plan, Do, Study, and Act.  These four, he believed lead to total quality improvement.

REFERENCES

1.      http://asq.org/about-asq/who-we-are/bio_shewhart.html

2.      http://goldpractice.thedacs.com/practices/spc/index.php

3.     http://www.qualitymag.com/Articles/Web_Exclusive/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000540505

4.    http://www.amazon.com/Economic-Control-Quality-Manufactured-Product/product-reviews/0873890760

5.     Omachonu, V.K. & Ross, J.E.  (2004).  Principles of total quality.  USA:  CRC Press.

6.     Rose, K.  (2005).  Project quality management:  Why, what, and how. USA:  J. Ross Publishing, Inc.

Guru of Quality Management - W.EDWARDS DEMING

W.EDWARDS DEMING:  Father of Modern Quality

BACKGROUND

William Edwards Deming (W. Edwards Deming as an adult) was a small-town boy but rose to be a “colossus of modern management thinking”.  He was born on October 14, 1900 to William Albert Deming and Pluma Irene Edwards.  Both parents When he was 17 years old, the Demings moved  to Wyoming and he entered University of Wyoming funding his education as a janitor.  He graduated in 1921 from his BS in Electrical Engineering degree  and he went to the University of Colorado in, where he obtained an MS in Physics and Mathematics in 1925.  In 1928, he earned his doctorate in physics from Yale University. 

Deming’s interest shifted from physics to statistics and in 1940, he got hired by the US Census Bureau.  Upon completion of the 1940 census, he worked at introducing Statistical Quality Control to industrial operations.   In 1946, he left the Bureau to establish his own firm, serving to a larger degree  manufacturers, telephone companies, railways, trucking companies, census takers, hospitals, governments, and research organizations.  He also taught sampling and quality control at the New York University where he was professor emeritus. 

Through his ideas, Deming effected quality improvement.  In Japan, he was acclaimed to have cast huge influence over top executives and engineers in quality management.  This was believed to be “the driving force the nation’s economic rise.” Japan’s “phenomenal export-led growth and its current technological leadership in automobiles, shipbuilding, and electronics” had been attributed to Deming so that, the Union of Japanese Science and Engineering by awarding a Deming Prize for important accomplishments in product quality and dependability.  The emperor in 1960 awarded him the Second Order Medal of the Sacred Treasure.

Deming’s approach was based on statistics but focused on responsibilities of management. While others focused on details by the focused on broad philosophical view that considered quality in overall economic terms.

Among the awards he received were:  Shewhart Medal  in 1956,  Samuel S. Wilks Award in 1983, election to the  National Academy of Engineering, National Medal of Technology in 1987, and, in 1988, Distinguished Career in Science award, and induction to the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1991. He also received  the degrees L.L.D. and Sc.D. honoris causa.

He authored many books, among them are:  Out of the Crisis (1986) and The New Economics (1994) which were translated into several languages.  He also penned about 171 papers.

PUBLICATION/S

1.      Out of the Crisis (1986)

This book is considered a classic “in quality assurance” and had earned the author, W. Edward Deming his title as the  “father of quality assurance.”  This book, written in 1986, after  the author’s international achievement “captures the spirit and ideas that spawned a revolution.”

“The book captures many of the key points in Deming's philosophy:
1) Creating metrics based approaches to management, without falling into a quota system.
2) Differentiating between problems caused by the system and problems outside of the system.
3) Focusing on both doing things correctly, and identifying the right tasks to approach.
4) Introducing a Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle of continuous improvement.

If you look at this list, the book presents a blueprint for many of the so called management revolutions of the subsequent 15 years: Excellence, Re-engineering, Process Management, Systems Thinking. This book really is both a trend setter as well as highly important body of theory. The theory is relevant today, as many management problems today can be addressed by his 14 points of management. (Example: A reliance on inspection is bad - build quality into the process. This is highly relevant to software construction today.)”

The book, though, “can be dry and hard to follow” for it looked like pieces of notes strung together.  Also, many of the companies as examples have fallen on “tougher times”.

2.      The New Economics  (1994)

“The new economics was a great book to read, however it was very repetitive. Deming thinks that the current system we are in needs to be changed because its individual based, and needs to be changed to more of a team approach. He wants to get rid of the grading system because it prevents those who have low grades from becoming better because of humiliation. “

“The frankness of his opinions regarding the (lack of) essentially fundamental leadership traits in today's modern global societies, in all vital areas at all organisational strata, are both valid and brave; the information voiced is made possible only through his previous experiences and status in the field. And, if all managerial leaders of this world were to listen, be able to understand and follow Deming's ideas and underlying philosophies, societies will be enhanced beyond recognition in many aspects.”

CONTRIBUTIONS:

1.      Deming's 14 Points.

Point 1: Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of the product and service so as to become competitive, stay in business and provide jobs.

Point 2: Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. We no longer need live with commonly accepted levels of delay, mistake, defective material and defective workmanship.

Point 3: Cease dependence on mass inspection; require, instead, statistical evidence that quality is built in.

Point 4: Improve the quality of incoming materials. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of a price alone. Instead, depend on meaningful measures of quality, along with price.

Point 5: Find the problems; constantly improve the system of production and service. There should be continual reduction of waste and continual improvement of quality in every activity so as to yield a continual rise in productivity and a decrease in costs.

Point 6: Institute modern methods of training and education for all. Modern methods of on-the-job training use control charts to determine whether a worker has been properly trained and is able to perform the job correctly. Statistical methods must be used to discover when training is complete.

Point 7: Institute modern methods of supervision. The emphasis of production supervisors must be to help people to do a better job. Improvement of quality will automatically improve productivity. Management must prepare to take immediate action on response from supervisors concerning problems such as inherited defects, lack of maintenance of machines, poor tools or fuzzy operational definitions.

Point 8: Fear is a barrier to improvement so drive out fear by encouraging effective two-way communication and other mechanisms that will enable everybody to be part of change, and to belong to it.

Fear can often be found at all levels in an organization: fear of change, fear of the fact that it may be necessary to learn a better way of working and fear that their positions might be usurped frequently affect middle and higher management, whilst on the shop-floor, workers can also fear the effects of change on their jobs.

Point 9: Break down barriers between departments and staff areas. People in different areas such as research, design, sales, administration and production must work in teams to tackle problems that may be encountered with products or service.

Point 10: Eliminate the use of slogans, posters and exhortations for the workforce, demanding zero defects and new levels of productivity without providing methods. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships.

Point 11: Eliminate work standards that prescribe numerical quotas for the workforce and numerical goals for people in management. Substitute aids and helpful leadership.

Point 12: Remove the barriers that rob hourly workers, and people in management, of their right to pride of workmanship. This implies, abolition of the annual merit rating (appraisal of performance) and of management by objectives.

Point 13: Institute a vigorous program of education, and encourage self-improvement for everyone. What an organization needs is not just good people; it needs people that are improving with education.

Point 14: Top management's permanent commitment to ever-improving quality and productivity must be clearly defined and a management structure created that will continuously take action to follow the preceding 13 points.

2.      Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle. This concept was invented by Shewhart and popularized by Deming. This approach is a cyclic process for planning and testing improvement activities prior to full-scale implementation and/or prior to formalizing the improvement. When an improvement idea is identified, it is often wise to test it on a small scale prior to full implementation to validate its benefit. Additionally, by introducing a change on a small scale, employees have time to accept it and are more likely to support it. The Deming PDCA Cycle provides opportunities for continuous evaluation and improvement.

The steps in the Deming PDCA or PDSA Cycle are as follows:

1.      Plan a change or test (P).

2. Do it (D). Carry out the change or test, preferably on a small scale.
3. Check it (C). Observe the effects of the change or test. Study it (S).
4. Act on what was learned (A).
5. Repeat Step 1, with new knowledge.
6. Repeat Step 2, and onward. Continuously evaluate and improve.

3.       Deming’s Chain Reaction

If one focuses on quality and improves  the quality, customer satisfaction goes up. That results in increased market share and companies can lower prices. This is what is External to organization and viewed by the world.

Internally if Quality goes up , productivity increases. This is because REWORK is reduced. This point is what most could not visualize or accept easily. As productivity increases the costs goes down.

With reduced costs and reduced prices the Profits go up. This principle was implemented successfully  in many Japanese organization.

REFERENCES:

1.     Rose, K.  (2005).  Project quality management:  Why, what, and how. USA:  J. Ross Publishing, Inc.

2.     http://deming.org/index.cfm?content=61

3.     http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/deming.asp

4.     http://www.amazon.com/review/R20MYX2ZLYUTLJ/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R20MYX2ZLYUTLJ

5.     http://www.amazon.com/review/RXUMRO3RNK5OE/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#RXUMRO3RNK5OE

6.      http://www.1000advices.com/guru/quality_tqm_14points_deming.html

Guru of Quality Management - TAIICHI OHNO

TAIICHI OHNO: Father of the Kanban System

BACKGROUND

Taiichi Ohno is considered “a symbol of Japan’s manufacturing resurgence after the second world war.” Born in Dalian, China, “he joined the Toyota Automatic Loom Works between the wars.”

Towards the end of WWII, Ohno worked as a production engineer for Toyota.  The production for the company during the period was one of its worst, but Ohno set out to “eradicate inefficiency and eliminate waste” in the production process assigned to him.  His practices later became core for the Toyota Production System (TPS). “Several elements of this system have become familiar in the West: for example, muda (the elimination of waste), jidoka (the injection of quality) and kanban (the tags used as part of a system of just-in-time stock control).”

“But it was not a smooth path. Ohno met regular resistance when he first set out to persuade the company to radically change its manufacturing processes. A big part of his story is about the power of Japanese persistence, of how he kept asking repeatedly why the company needed to (expensively) stockpile vast quantities of components for its production line—until eventually was born the just-in-time (JIT) method of stock control.”

“Ohno often described the TPS as being rather like a supermarket, which he had first seen (and been impressed by) on his trips to America to look at car production systems. In the TPS, each production process sets out its wares for the next process to choose from, just as a supermarket does. Thus production is “pulled” by the demand down the line rather than, as in previous assembly-line systems, being “pushed” by the production rate higher up the line.”

BOOK/S

1. Workplace Management

Excellent book for those who have at least a basic understanding of TPS. The book is made up of Mr. Ohno's thoughts, as he wrote them, therefore gives a little more insight to the man that created the system.

2. Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production

“In this classic text, Taiichi Ohno -- inventor of the Toyota Production System and lean manufacturing -- shares the genius that sets him apart as one of the most disciplined and creative thinkers of our time. Combining his candid insights with a rigorous analysis of Toyota's attempts at lean production, Ohno's book explains how lean principles can improve any production-oriented endeaver. A historical and philosophical description of just-in-time and lean manufacturing, this work a must read for all students of human progress. On a more practical level, it continues to provide inspiration and instruction for those seeking to improve efficiency through the relentless elimination of waste.”

CONTRIBUTION/S

1. Kan-Ban System

A Kan-ban is a card containing all the information required to be done on a product at each stage along its path to completion and which parts are needed at subsequent processes.

“These cards are used to control work-in-progress (W.I.P.), production, and inventory flow. A Kan-ban System allows a company to use Just-In-Time (J.I.T) Production and Ordering Systems that allow them to minimize their inventories while still satisfying customer demands.

A Kan-ban System consists of a set of these cards, with one being allocated for each part being manufactured, that travel between preceding and subsequent processes.

The Kanban System was developed (more than 20 years ago), by Mr. Taiichi Ohno, a vice president of Toyota, to achieve objectives that include:  reducing costs by eliminating waste/scrap, to try to create work sites that can respond to changes quickly,  facilitate the methods of achieving and assuring quality control, design work sites according to human dignity, mutual trust and support, and allowing workers to reach their maximum potential.”

REFERENCES:

http://www.economist.com/node/13941150

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984139605/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=1278548962&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe

1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0915299143&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0JDJMN39Q18B7NYDX9MNhttp://www.theleanlibrary.com/taiichi-ohnos-workplace-management/

http://www.beyondlean.com/kanban.html

http://www.sae.org/manufacturing/lean/column/leanjun01.htm

Rose, K.  (2005).  Project quality management:  Why, what, and how. USA:  J. Ross Publishing, Inc.

Guru of Quality Management - SHIGEO SHINGO

SHIGEO SHINGO

BACKGROUND

Born in Saga City, Japan, Shigeo Shingo was a Japanese Engineer distinguished among others as one of the world’s leading experts on manufacturing practices and the Toyota Production System.  In 1981, Norman Bodek, the founder of Productivity Inc in the US went to Japan to see the Toyota Production System, he came across books authored by Shingo, who was then an external consultant for the company.  Aside from being consultant, Shingo also taught courses related to Industrial Engineering.

Bodek brought back to the US as many copies of Shingo’s poorly-translated-to-English Study of the Toyota Production System.  In the US, he made arrangements for the book to be translated in English.  Bodek, too, asked Shingo to lecture in the United States.  He later developed the “first Western lean manufacturing consultancy practices with Shingo’s support”.

Shingo, as earlier mentioned, is one of the world’s leading persons in the improvement of manufacturing processes.  He documented the Toyota Production System and coined the words “poke-yoke” meaning mistake-proofing, and also ‘single-minute exchange of dies (smed).  In 1988,  Shingo’s lifetime accomplishments were recognized by the Jon M. Hunstman School of Business at the Utah State University.  For this, the school created the Shingo Prize given to “world-class, lean organizations and operational excellence.”

“Dr. Shingo is the author of numerous books including A Study of the Toyota Production System; Revolution in Manufacturing: The SMED System; Zero Quality Control: Source Inspection and the Poka-yoke System; The Sayings of Shigeo Shingo: Key Strategies for Plant Improvement; Non-Stock Production: The Shingo System for Continuous Improvement; and The Shingo Production Management System: Improving Process Functions. He was a genius at understanding exactly why products are manufactured the way they are, and then transforming that understanding into a workable system for low-cost, high-quality production.”

“His greatness was in his ability to understand exactly why products are manufactured the way they are, and then transform that understanding into a workable system for low-cost, high-quality production. Mr. Shingo died peacefully November 14, 1990 at the age of 81.”

BOOK/S

1.  A Study of the Toyota Production System: From an Industrial Engineering Viewpoint (Produce What Is Needed, When It's Needed)

Here is Dr. Shingo's classic industrial engineering rationale for the priority of process-based over operational improvements in manufacturing. He explains the basic mechanisms of the Toyota production system, examines production as a functional network of processes and operations, and then discusses the mechanism necessary to make JIT possible in any manufacturing plant.

• Provides original source material on Just-ln-Time
• Demonstrates new ways to think about profit, inventory, waste, and productivity
• Explains the principles of leveling, standard work procedures, multi-machine handling, supplier relations, and much more

If you are a serious student of manufacturing, you will benefit greatly from reading this primary resource on the powerful fundamentals of JIT.

2. Quick Changeover for Operators Learning Package: A Revolution in Manufacturing: The SMED System

Written by the industrial engineer who developed SMED (single-minute exchange of die) for Toyota, A Revolution in Manufacturing provides a full overview of this powerful just in time production tool. It offers the most complete and detailed instructions available anywhere for transforming a manufacturing environment in ways that will speed up production and make small lot inventories feasible. The author delves into both the theory and practice of the SMED system, explaining fundamentals as well as techniques for applying SMED. The critically acclaimed text is supported with hundreds of illustrations and photographs, as well as twelve chapter-length case studies.

3. Mistake-Proofing for Operators Learning Package: Zero Quality Control: Source Inspection and the Poka-Yoke System

A combination of source inspection and mistake-proofing devices is the only method to get you to zero defects. Shigeo Shingo shows you how this proven system for reducing errors turns out the highest quality products in the shortest period of time. Shingo provides 112 specific examples of poka-yoke development devices on the shop floor, most of them costing less than $100 to implement. He also discusses inspection systems, quality control circles, and the function of management with regard to inspection.  

 4. Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking - The Scientific Thinking Mechanism

Dr. Shingo reveals how he taught Toyota and other Japanese companies the art of identifying and solving problems.

Many companies in the West are trying to emulate Lean but few can do it. Why not? Possibly, because we in the West do not recognize, develop and support the creative potential of every worker in solving problems. Toyota makes all employees problem solvers. Dr. Shingo gives you the tools to do it.

CONTRIBUTIONS

1. Poka Yoke

“Poka yoke” is about stopping processes as soon as a defect occurs, identifying the defect source and preventing it from happening again. Statistical quality inspection will ultimately no longer be required, as there will be no defects to detect – “zero defects”.

Poka yoke relies on source inspection, detecting defects before they affect the production line and working to eliminate the defect cause.

2. Mistake Proofing

Mistake proofing is also a component of poka yoke. Shingo introduced simple devices that make it impossible to fit a part incorrectly or make it obvious when a part is missing. This means that errors are prevented at source, supporting a zero defects process.

3. SMED (single minute exchange of die)

Shigeo Shingo developed SMED (single minute exchange of die) techniques for quick changeovers between products. By simplifying materials, machinery, processes and skills, changeover times could be reduced from hours to minutes.

Quick changeovers meant products could be produced in small batches or even single units, with minimal disruption. This enabled Just In Time production, as pioneered by the Toyota company.

4. Just in Time Production

Just In Time production is about supplying the customer with what they want, exactly when they want it. Traditional manufacturing tended to large batch production as this gave economies of scale, however required large inventories of raw materials and finished goods. Orders are “pushed” through the system.

The aim of Just In Time is to minimise inventories by only producing what is required, when it is required. Orders are “pulled” through the system, triggered by a customer order. This reduces costs and waste throughout the production process.

REFERENCES

http://quality.dlsu.edu.ph/chronicles/shigeo_shingo.html

http://www.lib.uwo.ca/programs/generalbusiness/shingo.html

http://www.curiouscat.com/guides/shigeoshingobio.cfm

http://www.process-improvement-japan.com/shigeo-shingo.html

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0915299178/worldwidedemingw

http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Changeover-Operators-Learning-Package/dp/0915299038/ref=pd_sim_b_2

http://www.amazon.com/Mistake-Proofing-Operators-Learning-Package-Inspection/dp/0915299070/ref=pd_cp_b_4

http://www.amazon.com/Kaizen-Art-Creative-Thinking-Scientific/dp/1897363591/ref=pd_cp_b_2=

http://www.mftrou.com/shigeo-shingo.html

Guru of Quality Management - PHILIP CROBSY

PHILIP CROBSY

BACKGROUND

Philip Bayard Crosby, born in 1926 in Wheeling, West Virginia, joined the army and became a hospital corpsman.  He graduated from the Ohio Podiatric Medicine in Cleveland.  He later again joined military service and served as Marine Medical Corpsman.

In 1952, he worked for Crosley Corp as a junior electronic test technician, and in 1955 as a reliability technician and quality engineer, where he “investigated defects found by the test people and inspectors” for the Bendix Corporation. In 1957, with Martin Marietta Company, he was assigned as senior quality engineer.  For eight years at MMC, Crosby built up his concepts on Zero Defects, wrote articles, and various journals in the topic and also started speaking on the topic.

In 1965, Crosby was hired by the International Telephone Telegraph (IIT) as its vice president in corporate quality.  In those years Crosby interacted with “the world’s largest industrial and service companies, implementing his pragmatic management philosophy and found out it worked.” 

After several years in the industry, Crosby established what he called the Crosby Quality College in Winter Park, Florida.  He wrote numerous articles and authored books, among others are: Quality is Free (1979), Quality Without Tears (1984), and Completeness (1994)

PUBLICATION/S:

1.  Quality is Free: The Art of Making Quality Certain

“A simple guide to quality control, when managing a large plant or running a small business. This book advises on easy-to-implement programmes, using actual case histories to demonstrate how quality control works and pointing the way to success in business.”    

2.  Quality Without Tears: The Arts of Hassle-Free Management

“The author's objective is to show managers how to build quality into all aspects of a company's operations thereby lowering costs, increasing sales, and boosting profits and do all this without the typical bureaucratic controls and procedures that merely hassle people without producing the desired results. Real situation and amusing fictional case histories are used to demonstrate that problems of quality and hassle are caused by management action.”

3. Quality and Me:  Lessons  from an Evolving Life (1999)

“Hailed by Time magazine as the "leading evangelist of quality," Philip Crosby has emerged as one of the century's greatest management thinkers. Now, in this autobiography, the person most responsible for the quality revolution in American business shares the ideas and insights he's gathered over the course of an eventful, forty-year career. A talented storyteller, Crosby recounts his years as vice president of ITT, his working relationship with the legendary Harold Geneen, and the launch—and re-launch—of his own consulting practice. Quality and Me is an intimate, informative portrait of the man who changed the way quality management is practiced today.”

Other Books:

• Cutting the Cost of Quality, 1967
• Running Things: The Art of Making Things Happen, 1986
• The Eternally Successful Organization, 1988
• Let’s Talk Quality, 1989
• Leading: The Art of Becoming an Executive, 1990
• Completeness: Quality for the 21st Century, 1992
• Reflections on Quality, 1995
• Quality Is Still Free, 1996
• The Absolutes of Leadership, 1997

CONTRIBUTIONS

1.  Absolutes of Quality Management

Crosby’s solution to the quality crisis was to develop and promote the principle of “doing it right the first time” (DRIFT), he dissected this into four major principles:

1. Quality is conformance to requirements
2. The management system is prevention
3. The performance standard is zero defects
4. The measurement system is the cost of quality

2.  Zero Defects

'Zero defects' does not mean that people never make mistakes, but that companies should not begin with 'allowances' or sub-standard targets with mistakes as an in-built expectation. Instead, work should be seen as a series of activities or processes, defined by clear requirements, carried out to produce identified outcomes.

3.   14 Quality Improvement Steps

1. Management Commitment: the need for quality improvement must be recognised and adopted by management, with an emphasis on the need for defect prevention. Quality improvement is equated with profit improvement. A quality policy is needed which states that '… each individual is expected to perform exactly like the requirement or cause the requirement to be officially changed to what we and the customer really need.'
2. Quality Improvement Team: representatives from each department or function should be brought together to form a quality improvement team. These should be people who have sufficient authority to commit the area they represent to action.
3. Quality Measurement: the status of quality should be determined throughout the company. This means establishing quality measures for each area of activity that are recorded to show where improvement is possible, and where corrective action is necessary. Crosby advocates delegation of this task to the people who actually do the job, so setting the stage for defect prevention on the job, where it really counts.
4. Cost of Quality Evaluation: the cost of quality is not an absolute performance measurement, but an indication of where the action necessary to correct a defect will result in greater profitability.
5. Quality Awareness: this involves, through training and the provision of visible evidence of the concern for quality improvement, making employees aware of the cost to the company of defects. Crosby stresses that this sharing process is a - or even - the - key step in his view of quality.
6. Corrective Action: discussion about problems will bring solutions to light and also raise other elements for improvement. People need to see that problems are being resolved on a regular basis. Corrective action should then become a habit.
7. Establish an Ad-hoc Committee for the Zero Defects Programme: Zero Defects is not a motivation programme - its purpose is to communicate and instil the notion that everyone should do things right first time.
8. Supervisor Training: all managers should undergo formal training on the 14 steps before they are implemented. A manager should understand each of the 14 steps well enough to be able to explain them to his or her people.
9. Zero Defects Day: it is important that the commitment to Zero Defects as the performance standard of the company makes an impact, and that everyone gets the same message in the same way. Zero Defects Day, when supervisors explain the programme to their people, should make a lasting impression as a 'new attitude' day.
10. Goal Setting: each supervisor gets his or her people to establish specific, measurable goals to strive for. Usually, these comprise 30-, 60-, and 90-day goals.
11. Error Cause Removal: employees are asked to describe, on a simple, one-page form, any problems that prevent them from carrying out error-free work. Problems should be acknowledged within twenty-four hours by the function or unit to which the problem is addressed. This constitutes a key step in building up trust, as people will begin to grow more confident that their problems will be addressed and dealt with.
12. Recognition: it is important to recognise those who meet their goals or perform outstanding acts with a prize or award, although this should not be in financial form. The act of recognition is what is important.
13. Quality Councils: the quality professionals and team-leaders should meet regularly to discuss improvements and upgrades to the quality programme.
14. Do It Over Again: during the course of a typical programme, lasting from 12 to18 months, turnover and change will dissipate much of the educational process.

4. Cost of Quality

Crosby makes the point that it costs money to achieve quality, but it costs more money when quality is not achieved. When an organization designs and builds an item right the first time (or provides a service without errors), quality is free. It does not cost anything above what would have already been spent. When an organization has to rework or scrap an item because of poor quality, it costs more. Crosby discusses Cost of Quality and Cost of Nonconformance or Cost of Nonquality. The intention is spend more money on preventing defects and less on inspection and rework.

5.  Maturity Grid

The grid is a simple 6 x 6 matrix that shows different stages of maturity of the company’s quality management against six different quality management categories (management understanding of quality, problem handling, cost of quality, etc).

The lowest stage of maturity is called ‘Uncertainty’ – the organisation is inexperienced, quality management is a low priority and reactive, etc – then as quality management matures it goes through the stages of ‘Awakening’, ‘Enlightenment’, ‘Wisdom’, then the highest level, ‘Certainty’.

Each point – maturity versus category – on the grid has a brief description of how that combination appears in the company; for instance, in the ‘Uncertainty’ stage, Problem Handling looks like “Problems are fought as they occur; no resolution; inadequate definition; lots of yelling and accusations.”

6.  Quality Vaccination Serum  (from Quality Without Tears)

·        Integrity for the Chief Executive Officer, all managers and all employees.

·        Systems for measuring conformance, and educating all employees and suppliers so that quality, corrective action and defect prevention become routine.

• Communications for identifying problems, conveying progress and recognising achievement.
• Operations so that procedures, products and systems are proven before they are implemented and are then continually examined.
• Policies that are clear, unambiguous and establish the primacy of quality throughout the organisation.

7.  Characteristics Essential for an Organization to be Successful (from The Eternally Successful Organisation)

• People routinely do things right first time.
• Change is anticipated and used to advantage.
• Growth is consistent and profitable.
• New products and services appear when needed.
• Everyone is happy to work there.

REFERENCES:

http://www.vectorstudy.com/management_gurus/philip_crosby.htm

http://www.philipcrosby.com/pca/B.Overview.html

http://www.enotes.com/management-encyclopedia/quality-gurus

http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/crosby.asp

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/quality-me-lessons-evolving-life-crosby/1017964734

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/quality-without-tears-philip-crosby/1018177972

http://www.amazon.com/Quality-Free-Art-Making-Certain/dp/0451625854

http://www.qualityandproducts.com/2010/01/18/crosbys-quality-management-maturity-grid/

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Pr-Sa/Quality-Gurus.html

http://www.mbsportal.bl.uk/taster/subjareas/busmanhist/mgmtthinkers/crosby.aspx

http://www.qualitygurus.com/gurus/list-of-gurus/philip-crosby/