Deming’s 14 Points

for
Total Quality Management
History of
Dr. W. Edwards Deming
 Born in 1900
 1928 – Received PhD in Physics
 1946 – Led formation of American Society for Quality
Control
 late 1940s – Introduced statistical quality control to
Japan
 1951 – Japan created Deming Award
 1970s-1980s – Ford, IBM, Xerox adopt TQM
 1980 – Deming “Discovered” in America
1. Create a Vision and
Demonstrate Commitment
 Management must find core
values and goals
 Involve all employees
 Maintain a constancy and
consistancy of purpose
2. Learn the New Philosophy

 Work more toward QUALITY

rather than quantity
 Do not tolerate errors and
faulty workmanship
 Application:
 Focus on the customer’s
needs, not on the
competition
 Establish an understanding
as to what kind of work is
acceptable from employees
3. Understand Inspection

 Workers depend too much

on inspection
 Inspection is never 100%
accurate and is costly
 Use inspection as an
information tool
 Application:
 Encourage workers to take
responsibility in their work
Illustration by Pat Oliphant
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4. End the practice of awarding
business purely on the Basis of Cost
 Judge incoming materials by
both quality and price
 Focus on minimizing total
cost not initial cost
 Work toward long-term
relationships with suppliers
 Application:
 Reduce variation by using
fewer suppliers
 Use statistical evidence to
choose suppliers
5. Improve Constantly and Forever
the system of production and service
 Reject notion that things
are ever “good enough”
 Necessary in both Design
and Operations
 Less Variation, Lower Cost
 Deming PDCA cycle
 Plan
 Do
 Check
 Act Illustration by Pat Oliphant
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6. Institute Training

 People are the most

valuable resource

 Training on statistical tool

 Best People to Train

Illustration by Pat Oliphant

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7. Institute Leadership

 Supervisor vital link

between management and
worker

 Job of management is to
Lead, not Supervise

 Focus on process
improvements, not quotas
Illustration by Pat Oliphant
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8. Drive Out Fear, create trust

 Underlies many of Deming’s

14 Points

 First that should be

implemented

 Many Fears- all have to be

recognized

Illustration by Pat Oliphant

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9. Optimize the Efforts of Teams

 Teamwork destroys barriers

 Barriers occur when:
 Managers fear losing power
 Employees compete for
raises and ratings
 Lack of cooperation leads to
poor quality
 Application:
 Restructure into teams that
support processes
 Aim for consensus rather Illustration by Pat Oliphant
www.managementwisdom.com/free.html
than compromise
 10. Eliminate Exhortations

 Exhortations typically
assume all quality problems
are behavioral
 They overlook the source of
many problems—the system
 Application:
 Improve quality with
statistical thinking & training
 Motivate with leadership &
trust instead of slogans Illustration by Pat Oliphant
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11. Eliminate Numerical Quotas,
Management by Objective
 Quotas and Objectives often
used to punish, not
encourage
 Can cause workers to short-
cut quality to reach the goal
 Application:
 Provide ongoing feedback
based on quality indicators
 Emphasize the means
(quality) as much as the Illustration by Pat Oliphant
results www.managementwisdom.com/free.html
12. Remove Barriers to Pride in
Workmanship
 Performance appraisals can
destroy teamwork and foster
mediocrity

 Deming sorted non-system

performance statistically:
 Superior performance – reward
 Inferior performance – train or
replace

Illustration by Pat Oliphant

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13. Encourage Education and
Self-Improvement
 Education outside of
specific job skills

 Responsibility to improve
value of individuals

 Can stimulate innovation

Illustration by Pat Oliphant

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14. Take Action to Transform

 Change includes everyone

 Change begins at the top
 “Quality is made in the
boardroom….Limitations on
quality are also made in the
boardroom” –Deming
 Application:
 Lead by example
 Provide training
 Implement with cross-
functional teams Illustration by Pat Oliphant
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 The Deming System of Profound Knowledge

 Deming advocated that all managers need to have

what he called a System of Profound Knowledge,
consisting of four parts:

1. Appreciation of a system: understanding the overall processes

involving suppliers, producers, and customers (or recipients) of
goods and services (explained below);

2. Knowledge of variation: the range and causes of variation in

quality, and use of statistical sampling in measurements;

3. Theory of knowledge: the concepts explaining knowledge and

the limits of what can be known;

4. Knowledge of psychology: concepts of human nature.