Deming, W Edwards

▪ 1994

      U.S. business-management expert (b. Oct. 14, 1900, Sioux City, Iowa—d. Dec. 20, 1993, Washington, D.C.), used statistical analysis to formulate quality-control methods in industrial production. His methods, advocating enlisting the cooperation of the workers in the achievement of high-quality results during the manufacturing process instead of relying on inspection at the end of the process to find flaws, were credited with the success of Japan's post-World War II economic boom. Deming earned (1928) a Ph.D. in mathematical physics from Yale University, taught physics, worked as a mathematical physicist, and was a statistical adviser, a professor of statistics, and a research consultant before being invited to Japan to teach executives and engineers his methods. Japanese companies eagerly adopted his ideas, and it was partly because of this that Japanese consumer-electronics products came to dominate the market in many parts of the world. The Deming Prize, given to companies making major advances in quality control and considered the Nobel Prize of Japanese business, was established (1951) in his honour. U.S. companies, which for many years complacently ignored Deming's methods, finally began to implement them in the 1980s. Deming continued to conduct quality-management seminars until days before his death.

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