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A Wayworld Book Review The Deming Vision SPC/TQM for Administrators by Gary Fellers, ASQC Quality Press, 1992, 208 pages ISBN 0-87389-128-7 Author Gary Fellers is president of Gary Fellers Consulting Group in South Carolina. He helps clients implement SPC/TQM in problematic situations, and guides executives through the Deming transformation. What the $%!!# is a "Deming transformation" you might ask? A fairly complex process I might say, with many moving parts but consistent as a whole. See Appendix A for the "14 Points" of the Deming Vision.  I selected this book out of many on the subject of Statistical Process Control not for its technical instructions on SPC (which it lacks), but for its focus on the ideological foundation from which SPC gains its relevance. Chapter One: How Could We Have Known? This chapter reviews the history of Deming’s place in business. It tells the story of how American business got fat and happy in the largess of the post-WWII industrial boom, and how the Japanese beat our butts for decades by understanding quality and the statistical tools that are required to achieve it in manufacturing. Chapter Two: The Vision Nearly 40% of the book is in this chapter, which illustrates the dynamics of the Deming Vision. Too much to go into in this little book report, but here’s the section headings to give you the gist of what’s covered: The Interdepartmental Team (the 23 points describing it is worth studying)....Problem Solving.... Obstacles.... Brainstorming.... Fishbone (Cause and Effect) Charts....Control Charts....Pareto Charts.... Trend Charts....Scatter Diagrams.....Experimental Design (Factorial Experiments)..... Regression Analysis.... Flowcharts.... This chapter also has an interesting list of 70 "typical system problems" that Problem Solving skills can be applied to. Think your comapny is unique? Read this list.

Chapter Three; The Big Picture

This short chapter simply introduces the "5 Deadly Diseases" and has an interesting table of "The Intangible Traits Needed to Be World Class", which are

Creativity Energy
Inquisitiveness Desire to work for the good of the Team
Eagerness to compensate for co-worker’s shortcomings
Willingness to achieve results that are necessary, but unnoticeable to the boss.

Chapter Four; Management By-the-Numbers, Deadly Disease 1

To get this idea, understand this quote: "The central problem in management and productivity is failure to understand variation." The point here is not to ignore numbers, as it seemed to me upon reading the title, but instead to understand that fixed quotas and static standards introduce destructive dynamics into an operation. Another quote from this chapter: "The important figures are often unknown or unknowable." The value of high attitude, pride of workmanship, satisfied customers, free publicity, safety, teamwork and satisfaction are generally not easy to quantify, yet are core to success! The gist I got from this chapter was to understand that the numbers we use for targets are like the dots in a connect the dots picture; the numbers just make a pattern for us to see what’s really going on.

Chapter Five; Performance Appraisal By-the-Numbers, Deadly Disease 2

Again, the point is not to avoid performance appraisals. Indeed, increasing feedback is elemental to the Deming Vision; performance appraisals should be informal and frequent, and goal setting used to define the unique and challenging aspects of the job.

Chapter Six; Lack of Constancy of Purpose, Deadly Disease 3

"Constancy of purpose exists when the culture, and mood, are such that day-to-day, routine decisions of all managers and employees enhance the long-term survival of the firm, with no exceptions". Constancy of purpose has to do with long term perspectives, communication and propagation of mission and qualitative goals that provide clear guidance to all employees at all times, and creation of a family spirit among all employees.

Chapter Seven; Mobility of Management, Deadly Disease 4

"The days of systems and bottom-line, by-the-numbers management are gone. Effective managers today are into the process of continually improving. They know the nuts and bolts." Fourteen suggestions are presented to address the problem of turnover and its associated symptom, stagnation..

Chapter Eight; Short Term Orientation, Deadly Disease 5

The author argues that a full and successful implementation of the Deming Vision does not require a sacrifice of short term gain for long term effects. This chapter is a shorter grab bag of ideas ranging from problems with strict Return-on-Investment financial analysis, to the benefits of single-source vendor relations, to problems with short term executive pay structures.

Appendix A; The 14 Points

Creation of Culture:

1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business.

2. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn its responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.

3. Drive out fear so that everyone may work effectively for the company.

Promote Team Effort:

6. Institute training in the job. (Never use OJT as the sole training tool.)

7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets do a better job.

10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.

11. A) Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.

B) Eliminate management by objectives. Eliminate management-by-the-numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.

12. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his or her right to the pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.

13. Institute a vigorous program of training and retraining.

Job and Organization Design:

8. Cease dependance on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place. No after-the-fact acceptance sampling.

4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long term relationship of loyalty and trust. This does not mean there must always be sole sourcing. Three vendors instead of twelve may be the answer.

5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.

9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team to foresee production and use problems.

14. Create a top management structure to accomplish the transformation.

Appendix B; 16 Typical Obstacles

We all have a few of them, but not nearly the whole list.

Appendix C; Typical Output Measurements

Sixteen pages (hundreds of items) of operational aspects that could be used as indicator measurements for improvement. A great source of inspiration if you’re thinking about setting up SPC at your workstation.

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