20th Annual International Deming Research Seminar - March 3-4, 2014 (NY, USA).

[IainB]

Thought I'd post this in case anyone on the forum might be interested and able to take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about what people may have done using Deming's suggestions for "transformation" of business. A pity they only hold these seminars in the US. I've never attended one yet, but I'd still love to go. I see they are going to touch on operations research too.
One of the most useful and life-changing experiences for me was attending one of Deming's 4-day seminars. He said that what he was telling us about was actually very simple, but that it seemed hard to understand as a lot of it seemed to go against conventional wisdom - what we had been taught or indoctrinated with - and so was difficult to accept/internalise. He was right.
When I finally got to understanding what he was on about, I started to employ his approach and methods in my business as an IT and management consultant, and it led to assignments that were successfully completed, made me a lot of money, got repeat business (assignments), and got me a reputation for being something of a business process wizard - when in fact, all I had been doing was correctly applying tested theory and good/"best" practice, and Deming's approach and methods.

Read more about it at the link.
(Copied below sans embedded hyperlinks/images.)

20th Annual International Deming Research Seminar
March 3-4, 2014 : New York, NY USA

The Deming Institute is a proud Co-Sponsor of this exchange of knowledge

Experts in healthcare and education, as well as practitioners in government, manufacturing, and service industries will reveal their findings for the first time in two days of presentations, exchanges, and roundtables with other academics and practitioners who gather from around the world to share their ideas and explore Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s theory of management in a wide-ranging context. The forum is The 20th Annual International Deming Research Seminar, March 3-4 in New York City.

Be among the first to learn of a new direction in management and operations research.

Hear the latest ideas on use of incentives, sustaining company success, performance management systems, enhancing commerce, teams, appraisals, measurement systems, fear, trust, ethics, and leadership.

Student Discount (Student ID Required) is available through The Deming Cooperative.

No refunds within 10 days of the event, 50% refund 11 - 30 days prior to event. Substitutions always welcome.
Event Pricing: Regular: $395

[tomos]

Just got a summary on Wkikpedia -
(Deming circle / PDCA)

[IainB]

Just got a summary on Wkikpedia -
(Deming circle / PDCA)

I think you might find that that is not "a summary of Deming" or of anything much, but rather just a description of "the PDCA/PDSA cycle" (aka "the  Shewhart cycle").
Take care. The Wikipedia article you linked to seems to rapidly wander off into BS territory with the OPDCA and "Lean [insert word here]", where you'd probably need thigh-length gumboots to wade through all the management consulting BS.
I'd be very surprised if you found any of that at the seminar.

[tomos]

Just got a summary on Wkikpedia -
(Deming circle / PDCA)

I think you might find that that is not "a summary of Deming" or of anything much, but rather just a description of "the PDCA/PDSA cycle" (aka "the  Shewhart cycle").
Take care. The Wikipedia article you linked to seems to rapidly wander off into BS territory with the OPDCA and "Lean [insert word here]", where you'd probably need thigh-length gumboots to wade through all the management consulting BS.
I'd be very surprised if you found any of that at the seminar.

any more reputable summaries out there?

[IainB]

I don't know of any summaries about Deming's work that might help one to learn much about it. His book "Out of the Crisis" is probably recommended reading, and also the experiment with the red and white beads is very important.
Maybe it was just me, but I found him quite hard going. Even though I attended one of his 4-day seminars, it was really only on the morning of the last day that the penny began to drop. I nearly missed it. Up until that point I had almost completely misunderstood what he had been on about - though, in my arrogance, I had thought I understood.  After the epiphany hit me, I felt somewhat ashamed of my previously ignorant state.
He had pre-warned us that it was simple, but seemed hard to understand. He said he'd spent a great deal of his working life trying to simplify the complexity of what Shewhart had taught.

[Attronarch]

Deming was way too conceptual, compared to other quality philosophers of that time, especially Juran and populist Crosby.

Tomos, here is summary of Mr. Deming, taken from my specialisation project and master thesis, condensed for forum:

William Edwards Deming is considered to be the pioneer and the founder of the quality movement. After Second World War he was involved in planning of the Japanese Census. At that time Japanese engineers were studying Shewart's methods and techniques. Since Deming was a student of Walter Andrew Shewhart, they decided to invite him help them rebuild the Japanese economy. Deming's work in Japan resulted in Japanese factories dominating the manufacturing sector with high quality and low cost. Ironically, his methods gained recognition in United States after his death. His major contributions to the quality management field are:

• The Fourteen Points
• The Deadly Diseases
• The System of Profound Knowledge
• Deming Wheel (PDCA is its offshot)

Now, the real value is in understanding his "System of Profound Knowledge", which is the basis for application of The Fourteen Points of transformation. With its four points it advocates holistic approach: appreciation of a system, knowledge of variation, theory of knowledge and knowledge of psychology. It was way ahead of its time, since scientific management was dominant managerial approach at that time.

[tomos]

^thanks Attronarch

[Stoic Joker]

Deming was way too conceptual, compared to other quality philosophers of that time, especially Juran and populist Crosby.

Tomos, here is summary of Mr. Deming, taken from my specialisation project and master thesis, condensed for forum:

William Edwards Deming is considered to be the pioneer and the founder of the quality movement. After Second World War he was involved in planning of the Japanese Census. At that time Japanese engineers were studying Shewart's methods and techniques...

Oh, That guy. From what I recall of the story told when the factory I was working at years ago was being switched over to Just In Time (JIT) manufacturing. These techniques were indeed so new and revolutionary at the time that the current prevailing wisdom infested business establishment in the US had flat out laughed at him, and then basically foisted him on the Japanese after the war. Which then backfired rather handily for the Japanese and is much of the why the current top selling car in the US a currently the Toyota Corolla ... And has been for something like the past 12 years (which annoys me to no end).

[IainB]

Deming was way too conceptual, compared to other quality philosophers of that time, especially Juran and populist Crosby. ...

Yes, well, like Deming said, "...what he was telling us about was actually very simple, but that it seemed hard to understand as a lot of it seemed to go against conventional wisdom - what we had been taught or indoctrinated with - and so was difficult to accept/internalise."
Misconceptions abound.

[IainB]

If one wanted to learn more about Deming and his approach to process improvement, a good place to start could well be The Deming Institute, because they seem to be focussed on Deming and are "just the facts m'am" and no BS.
A lot of the Deming material was formerly available via MIT (where he taught) and on the Internet in the public domain from there and from some other educational institutions. It seems to have all been expunged (though I have some copies) and put under the umbrella of The Deming Institute.
Their website currently has these sections:

• About The Institute
• Deming Today
• The Man
• Overview
• Theories & Teachings
• Photo Gallery
• Selected Articles
• Timeline
• Events
• News & Media
• Ways to Give
• Store

__________________________

There are a lot of useful books and teaching materials for sale in the Store. Looks expensive. I'd suggest you could do worse than check on Amazon for used copies first, before buying from the store.
In section The Man, they say:

...The impact of his revolutionary ideas has been compared to those of Copernicus, Darwin and Freud. ...
__________________

Now that might be true, but some people (not me, you understand) might say that there is a very big difference between those great seekers after truth and Deming, in that the knowledge contained in the writings and speech of Copernicus, Darwin and Freud is freely accessible, is available for free, and is not locked up in commercial copyright by some parasitic self-appointed authority and moneygrubbing organisation acting as keeper of the keys and that extorts a small ransom from any student as the price for such important knowledge/education - but I couldn't possibly comment.

As a mathematician/statistician, Deming was indeed a seeker after truth, and over his lifetime he contributed a great deal to knowledge in the domain of operations research.
He was scientific and pragmatic, advocating the use of simple statistical control charts (as per Shewhart) as the way to understand a business process. (This was where an understanding of simple variance analysis proved so useful.) It was basically "Find out for yourself. Study the process using statistical control charts and you will find the observations are the process talking to you, telling you about itself, and you can use the data to understand and prove everything that happens in the process. Then use the PDSA to improve the process."

Some relevant quotes:

"In god we trust, all others bring data."
"Action that is not based on sound theory/good practice is irrational by definition."

If you wanted to know what the Japanese thought (and still think) of Deming's contribution to their country and its huge economic development and success, look up the history of JUSE and The Deming Prize, and do some research on what that flower-shaped thingy is that Deming has on a sash he wears over his dinner jacket in one of the photos in that small collage in The Man.

[IainB]

...Oh, That guy. From what I recall of the story told when the factory I was working at years ago was being switched over to Just In Time (JIT) manufacturing. These techniques were indeed so new and revolutionary at the time that the current prevailing wisdom infested business establishment in the US had flat out laughed at him, and then basically foisted him on the Japanese after the war. Which then backfired rather handily for the Japanese and is much of the why the current top selling car in the US a currently the Toyota Corolla ... And has been for something like the past 12 years (which annoys me to no end).

That's seems sort of right, but a bit jumbled up. Refer to the Timeline given in The Deming Institute page.

[TaoPhoenix]

Deming was way too conceptual, compared to other quality philosophers of that time, especially Juran and populist Crosby.

Tomos, here is summary of Mr. Deming, taken from my specialisation project and master thesis, condensed for forum:

William Edwards Deming is considered to be the pioneer and the founder of the quality movement. After Second World War he was involved in planning of the Japanese Census. At that time Japanese engineers were studying Shewart's methods and techniques...

Oh, That guy. From what I recall of the story told when the factory I was working at years ago was being switched over to Just In Time (JIT) manufacturing. These techniques were indeed so new and revolutionary at the time that the current prevailing wisdom infested business establishment in the US had flat out laughed at him, and then basically foisted him on the Japanese after the war. Which then backfired rather handily for the Japanese and is much of the why the current top selling car in the US a currently the Toyota Corolla ... And has been for something like the past 12 years (which annoys me to no end).

Deming was way too conceptual, compared to other quality philosophers of that time, especially Juran and populist Crosby.

Tomos, here is summary of Mr. Deming, taken from my specialisation project and master thesis, condensed for forum:

William Edwards Deming is considered to be the pioneer and the founder of the quality movement. After Second World War he was involved in planning of the Japanese Census. At that time Japanese engineers were studying Shewart's methods and techniques. Since Deming was a student of Walter Andrew Shewhart, they decided to invite him help them rebuild the Japanese economy. Deming's work in Japan resulted in Japanese factories dominating the manufacturing sector with high quality and low cost. Ironically, his methods gained recognition in United States after his death. His major contributions to the quality management field are:

• The Fourteen Points
• The Deadly Diseases
• The System of Profound Knowledge
• Deming Wheel (PDCA is its offshot)

Now, the real value is in understanding his "System of Profound Knowledge", which is the basis for application of The Fourteen Points of transformation. With its four points it advocates holistic approach: appreciation of a system, knowledge of variation, theory of knowledge and knowledge of psychology. It was way ahead of its time, since scientific management was dominant managerial approach at that time.

Hi At

Deming was way too conceptual, compared to other quality philosophers of that time, especially Juran and populist Crosby.

Tomos, here is summary of Mr. Deming, taken from my specialisation project and master thesis, condensed for forum:

William Edwards Deming is considered to be the pioneer and the founder of the quality movement. After Second World War he was involved in planning of the Japanese Census. At that time Japanese engineers were studying Shewart's methods and techniques. Since Deming was a student of Walter Andrew Shewhart, they decided to invite him help them rebuild the Japanese economy. Deming's work in Japan resulted in Japanese factories dominating the manufacturing sector with high quality and low cost. Ironically, his methods gained recognition in United States after his death. His major contributions to the quality management field are:

• The Fourteen Points
• The Deadly Diseases
• The System of Profound Knowledge
• Deming Wheel (PDCA is its offshot)

Now, the real value is in understanding his "System of Profound Knowledge", which is the basis for application of The Fourteen Points of transformation. With its four points it advocates holistic approach: appreciation of a system, knowledge of variation, theory of knowledge and knowledge of psychology. It was way ahead of its time, since scientific management was dominant managerial approach at that time.

Hello Attronarch,

Is your thesis available for private perusal? I would like a copy of it if possible.

[Attronarch]

Deming was way too conceptual, compared to other quality philosophers of that time, especially Juran and populist Crosby. ...

Yes, well, like Deming said, "...what he was telling us about was actually very simple, but that it seemed hard to understand as a lot of it seemed to go against conventional wisdom - what we had been taught or indoctrinated with - and so was difficult to accept/internalise."

They all were ahead of their time - Juran with his managing for quality, spirals, "cost of poor quality", stating that management is root cause of 80% of the problems (Pareto rule); and Crosby with his "quality is free" - but Deming was the most conceptual one. Or, it might be better to say that his proposed system was too scientific and complex. Even today, parts of his system go against current conventional wisdom.

If one wanted to learn more about Deming and his approach to process improvement, a good place to start could well be The Deming Institute, because they seem to be focussed on Deming and are "just the facts m'am" and no BS.

I advise care while investigating institutes like Deming's and Juran's. They are in it to make money through consulting, and usually water down original ideas, e.g. what DeFeo did with Juran's books.

If you wanted to know what the Japanese thought (and still think) of Deming's contribution to their country and its huge economic development and success, look up the history of JUSE and The Deming Prize, and do some research on what that flower-shaped thingy is that Deming has on a sash he wears over his dinner jacket in one of the photos in that small collage in The Man.

Fun trivia: "Deming's Award" was first offered [from JUSE] to Juran, but he refused since he thought that no Quality award should be tied to a person (organisational effort, and all). When he refused, they went to Deming. Source - article on Juran's life

Hello Attronarch,

Is your thesis available for private perusal? I would like a copy of it if possible.

Unfortunately no, since I had scholarship and it was tied to specific company. But, I can give you table of contents, and take out chapters that have no reference to the sponsor company.