Deming, William Edwards

At the time of his death in 1993, Ed Deming was regarded as a world leader in quality management; he had been voted by the business staff of the Los Angeles Times as being one of the 50 most influential businesspeople of the century. His obituary in the American Statistician was headed “The Statistician Who Changed the World.” However, Deming simply described himself as a “consultant in statistical studies.”

Deming was born to a poor family in Sioux City, Iowa, on October 14, 1900. His mother was a music teacher, and Deming had a lifelong interest in music (he played the flute). He studied electrical engineering at the University of Wyoming, graduating in 1921. He followed this with an MS in mathematics and physics at the University of Colorado in 1925. As a summer job, he worked for the Western Electric Company in Chicago, where he first encountered Shewart's work on quality control. He obtained his doctorate in physics from Yale University in 1928.

Deming began working first for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and then for the U.S. Bureau of the Census, being responsible for the sampling methods used for the first time in the 1940 U.S. Census. Between 1930 and 1946, Deming was a special lecturer on mathematics and statistics in the graduate school of the National Bureau of Standards, giving lectures from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. These led, in 1947, to the establishment of the Statistical Engineering Laboratory within the Bureau of Standards.

In 1946, Deming began his practice as a statistical consultant. In 1947, he spent three months in Japan helping with the Japanese census. On his return to Japan in 1950, he gave an extended course in quality control. The course was so successful and influential that he was invited back on many occasions and received by Emperor Hirohito. In 1960, Deming was [Page 249] awarded the Second Order of the Sacred Treasure. At that time, he was much better known in Japan than in his home country.

Deming's 14 key principles for transforming business effectiveness are summarized thus:

1.
Create constancy of purpose.
2.
Take the lead in adopting the new philosophy.
3.
Cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve quality.
4.
End the practice of awarding business on the basis of cheapness.
5.
Improve constantly.
6.
Institute training on the job.
7.
Institute leadership.
8.
Drive out fear and build trust.
9.
Break down barriers between departments.
10.
Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets.
11.
Eliminate numerical goals, and management by objective. Substitute leadership.
12.
Remove barriers to pride in workmanship.
13.
Institute a program of education and self-improvement.
14.
Put everybody to work to accomplish the transformation.

Deming was President of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in 1945. In 1983, he was awarded the Wilks medal, the highest honor of the American Statistical Association. In 1987, he was awarded the National Medal for Technology. Deming died in Washington, DC, on December 20, 1993.