Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Plumley
I think you mean "Demming." W. Edwards Demming.
Yes, the Japanese embraced quality manufacturing and set the global standard. I remember reading "The Machine that changed the world" and "The Goal" in bschool. In fact, pointing spears at our beloved German manufacturers, I remember a quote about a Mercedes factory that said something to the effect that they had hundreds of white coated "Quality Inspectors" at the end of the line and the guide said, "This demonstrates our commitment to quality - the hundreds of quality inspectors that fix every problem before our car is shipped to customer."; in contrast to the Japanese factory where the assembly line worker was encouraged to "stop the line" to resolve a quality problem before the car went further.
Do you remember Brian Bosworth bragging about working in Detroit and putting a bottle caps between the sheet metal panels to make rattles...
but I digress...back to your regularly schedule program: |
Sorry. It's Demming. You're right. Halberstam covers this in one of his books I've read. The Reckoning? I've also seen a video lecture by Demming on the subject. About 20 years ago, American industry suddenly embraced Demming's quality and customer first ideas. But it didn't last for long. He was also against the corporate ratings system which pits one worker against the other on a distribution curve. Industry didn't buy that.