Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 26, 1993 TAG: 9312230446
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: H. Josef Herbert Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Across the Pacific, Japanese corporations seized Deming's gospel of quality control, helping to transform a bombed-out country at the end of World War II into an economic superpower.
So successful were Deming's ideas that inexpensive Japanese products like Toyota cars and Sony radios drove U.S. products out of American markets while executives in his homeland largely ignored his ideas.
Deming died Monday - his quest to find the same acceptance in the United States largely unfinished. He was 93.
Deming's theory of quality control focused heavily on worker involvement, goal-setting and communication within the corporate structure, as opposed to management control and competition among workers.
A statistician by training, Deming became one of the most influential experts on corporate quality control. While U.S. companies were slow to embrace his ideas, Japanese executives took them to heart beginning in the 1950s.
Only in the 1970s, when U.S. manufacturers began to feel pressure from Japanese competitors, did corporate America begin to listen to the sometimes cantankerous and self-assured management guru, who by that time was being hailed widely in Japan.
Although some U.S. companies embraced his theories, Deming maintained even recently that most of corporate America had ignored him and his message.
Deming over the years reserved his harshest words for corporate management.
"The basic cause of sickness in American industry and resulting unemployment is failure of top management to manage," he wrote in his 1987 book, "Out of the Crisis."
Ford Motor Co. became one of Deming's most ardent supporters. In a statement, the automaker said Deming was instrumental in getting the company to put "a sharp focus on quality, not only in its manufacturing processes, but in all of its operations."
Said General Motors Corp.: "In our view, there is no single person in the world that has had a more profound effect on quality processes than did Dr. Deming.
"For more than a decade, he provided GM with valuable insight into his specialty, and his teachings are now an integral part of our overall quality process - The GM Quality Network."
A 1928 graduate of Yale University, Deming worked as a statistician for government agencies, including the U.S. Census during World War II. He went to Japan in 1947 to conduct a census and to help assess the country's ability to rebuild.
He made an immediate impression on the Japanese and was brought back to Japan in 1950 by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers to continue his role as a business consultant. His persuasiveness and the clarity of his theories made his lectures an immediate success among the Japanese.
\ LOCAL VIEWS ON DEMING
Jack Cochran, Shenandoah Life Insurance Co. "When we began our productivity program in 1980, one of cornerstones we used was from Dr. Deming's teaching. You have to have a road map and he provided a road map for a lot of people, made (them) aware that they needed to think a little differently."
Bill Drennan, Vitramon Inc. "Our business, which is heavily tied to Ford (Motor Co.) was dependent on adopting Ford's concepts. This must be an on-going process and is a powerful, successful way of constantly improving quality and improving business."
Jack Kempster, ITT Corp. "Dr. Deming had a couple things he was known for that we've paid a lot of attention to. Turning the Deming wheel has meant a lot to formalizing and creating a structure in our company for analyzing and problem-solving techniques. Over a five year period, our yields have more than doubled on our night vision product line. His principles contributed to that increase."
by CNB