In addition, QM is one of the most important terms in manufacturing. Yet, we see that managing and maintaining quality in the organization remains difficult. W. Edwards Deming taught us that quality is simple but radical.
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Companies like Toyota used Deming’s lessons to do better than the competition. After all, when a quality management system is properly deployed, it ensures organizational and continuous improvement.
We have listed some of W. Edwards Deming’s principles. After all, quality should not be taken for granted, but should be used to inspire innovation, streamline compliance and ensure safe products.
Quick FAQs to get you up to speed
TQM is a systematic approach to continuous improvement, ensuring that every aspect of an organization contributes to high-quality products and services.
They offer timeless principles that help manufacturers improve quality, eliminate waste, and focus on customer satisfaction.
- “Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” – Aristotle
- “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” – W. Edwards Deming
- “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” – Henry Ford
- “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” – Peter Drucker
- “The cost of poor quality is always higher than the cost of prevention.” – Philip Crosby
They emphasize continuous improvement, data-driven decisions, and proactive quality management, all of which are critical for lean manufacturing and ISO compliance.
Without a quality-first mindset, companies risk higher defect rates, wasted resources, and loss of customer trust, ultimately impacting profitability and competitiveness.
- Emphasize employee involvement in quality improvement.
- Use data-driven decision-making for process optimization.
- Standardize work instructions to ensure consistency.
- Adopt continuous improvement models like Kaizen and Six Sigma.
Total Quality Management Thinker
W. Edwards Deming Defined Quality As Follows
“Good quality means a predictable degree of uniformity and dependability with a quality standard suited to the customer. The underlying philosophy of all definitions is the same – consistency of conformance and performance, and keeping the customer in mind.”
W. Edwards Deming’s 13 Topics for Total Quality Management
- Create a constant purpose toward improvement.
- Adopt the new philosophy.
- Stop depending on inspections.
- Use a single supplier for any one item.
- Improve constantly and forever.
- Use training on the job.
- Implement leadership.
- Eliminate fear.
- Break down barriers between departments.
- Get rid of unclear slogans.
- Remove barriers to pride of workmanship.
- Implement education and self-improvement.
- Make “transformation” everyone’s job.
“Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.”
“The greatest waste … is failure to use the abilities of people…to learn about their frustrations and about the contributions that they are eager to make.”
“Quality comes not from inspection, but from improvement of the production process.”
“Improve quality, you automatically improve productivity.”
“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”
“The ultimate purpose of collecting the data is to provide a basis for action or a recommendation.”
“Manage the cause, not the result.”
“Inspection with the aim of finding the bad ones and throwing them out is too late, ineffective, and costly. Quality comes not from inspection but from improvement of the process.”
“A person and an organization must have goals, take actions to achieve those goals, gather evidence of achievement, study and reflect on the data and from that take actions again. Thus, they are in a continuous feedback spiral toward continuous improvement. This is what ‘Kaizen’ means.”
“The most valuable ‘currency’ of any organization is the initiative and creativity of its members. Every leader has the solemn moral responsibility to develop these to the maximum in all his people. This is the leader’s highest priority.”
“A bad system will beat a good person every time.”
“The aim of leadership should be to improve the performance of man and machine, to improve quality, to increase output, and simultaneously to bring pride of workmanship to people. Put in a negative way, the aim of leadership is not merely to find and record failures of men, but to remove the causes of failure: to help people to do a better job with less effort.”
For more industry relevant posts and frontline operations news visit our blog or check related posts about lean manufacturing. Azumuta helps frontline workers improve quality at every stage. Check out our quality control solution, and learn more about how to improve quality management in a digital way.
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