{domain:"www.qualitydigest.com",server:"169.47.211.87"} Skip to main content

User account menu
Main navigation
  • Topics
    • Customer Care
    • FDA Compliance
    • Healthcare
    • Innovation
    • Lean
    • Management
    • Metrology
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
    • Six Sigma
    • Standards
    • Statistics
    • Supply Chain
    • Sustainability
    • Training
  • Videos/Webinars
    • All videos
    • Product Demos
    • Webinars
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Submit B2B Press Release
    • Write for us
  • Metrology Hub
  • Training
  • Subscribe
  • Log in
Mobile Menu
  • Home
  • Topics
    • 3D Metrology-CMSC
    • Customer Care
    • FDA Compliance
    • Healthcare
    • Innovation
    • Lean
    • Management
    • Metrology
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
    • Six Sigma
    • Standards
    • Statistics
    • Supply Chain
    • Sustainability
    • Training
  • Login / Subscribe
  • More...
    • All Features
    • All News
    • All Videos
    • Contact
    • Training

Profound Knowledge

Four elements of Deming’s worldview we often overlook

Quality Transformation With David Schwinn
Wed, 06/05/2019 - 12:02
  • Comment
  • RSS

Social Sharing block

  • Print
  • Add new comment
Body

As some of you already know, I was in Ford Motor Co.’s corporate quality office during the early 1980s when, just after “If Japan Can, Why Can’t We” aired on NBC, we pleaded with W. Edwards Deming to help us out of a very bad place. One of the things I most remember about those times was that he just told us to follow the 14 points... “what top management must do to improve productivity.” Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position, by W. Edwards Deming (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, first edition, 1982).

ADVERTISEMENT

Some of those points seemed obvious, some seemed impossible, and some we just couldn’t understand. After struggling to get people like those of us at Ford to realize what he was talking about, he sensed he needed to share his, at that time, revolutionary worldview to help us gain clarity.

 …

Want to continue?
Log in or create a FREE account.
Enter your username or email address
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
By logging in you agree to receive communication from Quality Digest. Privacy Policy.
Create a FREE account
Forgot My Password

Comments

Submitted by Al Metzel (not verified) on Wed, 06/05/2019 - 10:08

PDSA

A while back, I was inroduced to a different take on PDSA, the OODA Loop, Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. The genesis of the OODA Loop is found in the Korean War, codified by a USAF fighter pilot. In the business world: Observe - Gather your data, Orient - Determine how the situation fits within the organiztion ecosystem, Decide - Plot your actions, Act - Do it! But, as in a dogfight, these steps are all occuring as one ongoing feedback function. In any environment, for every action there is a reaction. Unfortunately, unlike physics there is no constraint as to magnitude or direction and, hence, may be quite unexpected. Using a continuous process of small, finite steps, with contiuous feedback appears to me to make the OODA Loop more efficient to reach the desired outcome, while minimizing the unforseen reactions.

  • Reply

Add new comment

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
Please login to comment.
      

© 2025 Quality Digest. Copyright on content held by Quality Digest or by individual authors. Contact Quality Digest for reprint information.
“Quality Digest" is a trademark owned by Quality Circle Institute Inc.

footer
  • Home
  • Print QD: 1995-2008
  • Print QD: 2008-2009
  • Videos
  • Privacy Policy
  • Write for us
footer second menu
  • Subscribe to Quality Digest
  • About Us
  • Contact Us