‘A bad system will beat a good
person every time’
W. Edwards Deming
William Edwards Deming (1900 to 1993) was an American
Statistician who developed ‘better ways for people to work together’. His
philosophy outlined the continual improvement of products, services, processes, systems and people. His
philosophy was adopted by Japanese companies after World War II and it is
believed that it was these philosophies that helped their export industries
recover so effectively. He took the view that in order to improve the quality
and quantity of what you are producing you must treat every aspect of
manufacturing as a ‘system’ not as bits and pieces that can be bolted together
at the end.
Deming developed 14 principals of working practices –
many of which have been adopted
by successful manufacturers worldwide – his ideas now
seem common sense and even obvious – but this is because they have become so
embedded in our working lives that we cannot imagine a time when they were not
considered.
At its simplest his philosophy was to
continually:
Plan – do – check – and take
action.
- A company’s aims and purposes must be clearly
communicated to all employees
- A company must adapt to current trends and
philosophies
- You can build quality into a product through the
production process
- Create long term relationships based on loyalty and
trust rather than on having the lowest price tag
- Work to constantly improve quality and productivity of
people and machines
- Have structured and efficient on the job
learning
- Train in ‘leadership’ to improve all job
functions
- Creating a trusting not fearful
environment
- Reduce internal/departmental
conflicts
- Focus on the systems and morale of the
workforce
- Use leadership methods for improvement rather than
production ‘quotas’
- Avoid numerical goals instead learn how to improve the
process
- Enable people to take pride in their
workmanship
- Include everyone within the company to help accomplish
the purpose of the company.
At Continua we are constantly looking to improve
everything we do – we don’t take this challenge lightly but we do all take the
challenge together.
To find out more about W Edwards Deming and his manufacturing philosophy visit
