Juran, Joseph Moses

▪ 2009

      American quality-control authority

born Dec. 24, 1904, Braila, Rom.

died Feb. 28, 2008, Rye, N.Y.

established the involvement of top management as a crucial step in the process of dealing with quality issues in business and manufacturing. Juran began his career (1924) as a product inspector for the Western Electric Co. in Chicago and soon advanced to the statistical department. By 1937 he had been appointed head of industrial engineering at Western Electric's headquarters in New York City. Juran effectively helped management pinpoint the source of defects in the production process (thus saving time and reducing waste) by joining two 19th-century statistical tools: the Lorenzo curve, to help find clusters of defects within production, and the 80/20 rule introduced by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. In his application of the Pareto Principle, Juran stated that 80% of problems are the result of only 20% of activities, a theory that revolutionized the business world on a global scale. In 1954 Japan awarded Juran the Second Order of the Sacred Treasure for introducing Japanese executives to his quality-control techniques. In addition to lecturing and consulting work, Juran authored several books, most notably the Quality Control Handbook (1951).

* * *