Farewell, Guardian of Quality
One of the last truly great
leaders in the quality movement, Walter Masing, Ph.D., passed
away on March 29, 2004, in his home in Erbach im Odenwald,
Germany.
Masing never regarded quality as an aim in itself but
always considered its economic significance paramount. His
own success as an entrepreneur empowered him to create a
bridge between quality and economic management. His work
in this regard earned him an honorary doctorate degree in
business management from the University of St. Gallen in
Switzerland. In the award proposal, the university honored
Masing’s pioneering role in developing quality management,
technically focused quality control and dynamic company
management.
Masing was born in 1915 in St. Petersburg, Russia, and
completed his doctoral research in experimental physics
in 1940. During World War II he was closely associated with
the technical visionary Wernher von Braun and focused on
electronic regulation and control. Following the war, he
accepted the position of director at the Research Institute
of Applied Physics in Germany.
Masing was eternally grateful for the Marshall Plan that
allowed him, on June 21, 1948, to form Dr. Masing and Co.
GmbH in Erbach im Odenwald, a company that designed and
manufactured control systems. In 1969 he sold it to Robert
Bosch Industrieausrustung GmbH. He later sold another company
he founded, Masing-Kirkhof GmbH, which manufactured welding
equipment, to the Swedish firm ESAB Group.
Afterward, Masing devoted himself to promoting the quality
concepts he credited for the success of his own companies.
He realized it was imperative that European industry accept
these principles if it was going to survive. As a result,
he pushed the implementation of quality systems throughout
Germany and, moreover, all of Europe.
Masing served as the president of the German Society for
Quality for nearly 20 years. In 1956 the European Organization
for Quality was established in Bern, Switzerland, with Masing
as the founding president.
His contributions weren’t limited to Germany and
Europe, though. He was one of the individuals responsible
for establishing the International Academy for Quality and
served as its president and chairman.
Masing wrote the Quality Management Handbook (Hanser
Fachbuch, 1999), the European equivalent to Juran’s
Quality Handbook by Joseph M. Juran (McGraw-Hill Professional,
1998) and Armand Feigenbaum’s Total Quality Control
(McGraw-Hill Professional, 1991).
Masing was always interested in encouraging young engineers
and entrepreneurs. He lectured on quality tools at the Technical
University of Berlin, University of Stuttgart, European
Business School, European Institute for Business Management
and the University of St. Gallen. He also established, in
1990, the Research Institute for Quality.
With all this dedication to the quality movement, is it
any wonder that Management Magazine nicknamed him the “Guardian
of Quality” in Germany?
I could go on about Masing’s accomplishments and
awards, but what about the man himself? I first met him
in Singapore. He was tall, white-haired, formal and very
distinguished-looking. However, as soon as you started talking
with him, you could feel his warmth and understanding. Over
the years we spent many delightful times together in different
exotic places. I particularly remember one evening in Budapest
with him, Walter Hurd and Feigenbaum at Gabor Aschner’s
home. After dinner, we listened to New Orleans jazz, trying
to identify who was playing each of the key instruments.
Masing and Feigenbaum proffered a surprisingly high percentage
of correct answers; I wish I could say the same for myself.
In the early 1980s, the American Society for Quality sponsored
the “Crusade for Quality,” in which groups of
quality professionals toured countries, lecturing on quality.
These lectures helped raise a significant amount of money
for a number of young, struggling quality organizations
in developing countries and brought to them the latest and
best quality concepts. Masing actively supported these trips,
sponsoring one to Germany and personally going on a three-week
tour with a group to New Zealand and Australia.
In May, Masing was elected to receive the Distinguished
Service Medal from ASQ in Toronto. He planned on attending
with his daughter, Helgard Evard, and we planned on meeting
for dinner with Feigenbaum to exchange ideas, concepts and
experiences.
Walter was a quality disciple who gave freely of what
he’d learned to anyone who would stop and listen.
It’s just too bad that quality practitioners in the
United States didn’t have more contact with him. We’ve
missed a lot by not putting more time into studying his
writings and listening to his lectures. He was truly one
of the original thinkers when it came to bringing value
to all stakeholders. The world will miss him, and I will
miss a dear friend.
H. James Harrington is CEO of the Harrington Institute
Inc. and chairman of the board of Harrington Group. Visit
his Web site at www.harrington-institute.com.
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