About
William Edwards Deming, born October 14, 1900, in Sioux City, Iowa, and died December 20, 1993, in Washington, D.C., was an American statistician and consultant. After earning a Ph.D. in mathematical physics from Yale, he worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Census Bureau, where he introduced statistical survey techniques. Invited to Japan after World War II, he trained thousands of engineers and executives in statistical quality control, contributing to the country's industrial resurgence. The Deming Prize was established in 1951 to honor excellence in quality. In the United States, he gained widespread recognition only after a 1980 documentary, after which he consulted for major corporations.
Major works
- Out of the Crisis (1986)non-fiction
- Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position (1982)non-fiction
- The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education (1993)non-fiction
Key milestones
- 1951Establishment of the Deming Prize by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE).
- 1960Awarded the Second Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Emperor of Japan.
- 1987Awarded the National Medal of Technology by the United States.
Themes
Quality managementContinuous improvementLeadershipApplied statisticsOrganizational transformation
Sources: britannica.com · business.columbia.edu · deming.org