Quality Precision Gurus
Walter A. Shewhart
Walter Andrew Shewhart was an American physicist, engineer and statistician, sometimes known as the father of statistical quality control and also related to the Shewhart cycle.
One of the most notable contributors to modern industry is Walter Shewhart, a quality control pioneer. He started his rise to guru status as a Bell Telephone employee in 1918. Born in New Canton, Illinois in 1891, Shewhart set precedents that would be referenced for years to come in establishing the importance of information distribution among quality managers and production personnel. Walter Shewhart is a major contributor to TQM philosophy
W. Edwards Deming
Deming championed the work of Dr. Walter Shewhart including Statistical Process Control, Operational Definitions, and what Deming called The Shewhart Cycle which had evolved into PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act). This was in response to the growing popularity of PDSA, which Deming viewed as tampering with the meaning of Shewhart’s original work. Deming is best known for his work in Japan after WWII, particularly his work with the leaders of Japanese industry. That work began in August 1950 at the Hakone Convention Center in Tokyo when Deming delivered a seminal speech on what he called Statistical Product Quality Administration. Many in Japan credit Deming as the inspiration for what has become known as the Japanese post-war economic miracle of 1950 to 1960, when Japan rose from the ashes of war to become the second most powerful economy in the world in less than a decade founded on the ideas Deming taught:
Joseph M. Juran
Joseph Juran, who has died aged 103, will be remembered as the first management guru whose name is best associated with “quality”. His distinctive contribution lay in expanding the statistical conception of quality so that it became an essential resource for management. He adapted the 19th-century statistical tool known as the Lorenz Curve to make it a manufacturing aid to identify clusters of defects in the production process. By integrating it with the 19th-century statistics-based Pareto’s “80/20” Law, he eliminated random searching for the majority of defects, not only saving time but reducing waste.
He started to write his memoirs at 92, which were published two months before he celebrated his 99th birthday. He gave two interviews at 94 and 97.In 2004, he turned 100 years old and was awarded an honorary doctor from Luleå University of Technology in Sweden. A special event was held in May to mark his 100th birthday .He and Sadie celebrated their 81st wedding anniversary in June 2007. They were both at the age of 102 at the time of the event. (Longest marriages ever (≥81 years))
Philip Crosby
Philip Bayard “Phil” Crosby, (June 18, 1926 – August 18, 2001) was a businessman and author who contributed to management theory and quality management practices. Crosby initiated the Zero Defects program at the Martin Company.[5] As the quality control manager of the Pershing missile program, Crosby was credited with a 25 percent reduction in the overall rejection rate and a 30 percent reduction in scrap costs.
Crosby’s response to the quality crisis was the principle of “doing it right the first time” (DIRFT). He also included four major principles:
1. The definition of quality is conformance to requirements (requirements meaning both the product and the customer’s requirements)
2. The system of quality is prevention
3. The performance standard is zero defects (relative to requirements)
4. The measurement of quality is the price of nonconformance
His belief was that an organization that establishes good quality management principles will see savings returns that more than pay for the cost of the quality system: “quality is free”. It is less expensive to do it right the first time than to pay for rework and repairs
Arman Feigenbaum
Armand Vallin Feigenbaum (born 1922) is an American quality control expert and businessman. He devised the concept of Total Quality Control, later known asTotal Quality Management (TQM).
His contributions to the quality body of knowledge include: “Total quality control is an effective system for integrating the quality development, quality maintenance, and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organization so as to enable production and service at the most economical levels which allow full customer satisfaction. “The concept of a “hidden” plant—the idea that so much extra work is performed in correcting mistakes that there is effectively a hidden plant within any factory. Accountability for quality: Because quality is everybody’s job, it may become nobody’s job—the idea that quality must be actively managed and have visibility at the highest levels of management. The concept of quality costs.
Kaoru Ishikawa
Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa (1915 – 1989) was a Japanese professor, advisor and motivator with respect to the innovative developments within the field of quality management. Kaoru Ishikawa is best known for the development of the concept of the fishbone diagram, which is also known as the ‘Ishikawa diagram’. This diagram is still used in many organizations for making diagnoses or taking concrete actions in which the root cause of the problem is identified.
http://www.process-improvement-japan.com/kaoru-Ishikawa.html
Watts Humphrey
“Watts Humphrey was one of the icons of software engineering-one of a handful of engineers like Barry Boehm, Fred Brooks, and Vic Basili who have helped define this young field,” said SEI director and CEO Dr. Paul Nielsen. “Watts brought engineering to software engineering. His work has had immeasurable impact on the global software community, tirelessly urging the community to emphasize quality, measurement, and performance.” Known as the “Father of Software Quality” Humphrey dedicated the majority of his career to addressing problems in software development including schedule delays, cost increases, performance problems, and defects. Humphrey joined the SEI in 1986, after making what he described as an “outrageous commitment to change the world of software engineering.”
https://www.sei.cmu.edu/about/leadership/display.cfm?customel_datapageid_2623=3005