TQM GURUS

1.
Eliyahu M. Goldratt (1948 ) is an Israel-born physicist turned business consultant,
the originator of the theory of constraints (abbreviation: TOC). He claims that he
applied the scientific method to resolving some permanent problems of
organizations.
He is the author of several business novels:
* The Goal introduces TOCs accounting and process improvement aspects; it is
considered by some to be an important work on the topic of focused performance
improvement. It was followed by:
* Its Not Luck, which applies TOC to the problem of adapting an organization to
changes in its market,
* Critical Chain (book), describes the application TOC in project management called
Critical Chain Theory, and
* Necessary But Not Sufficient, which makes Tocs utility in problems outside
manufacturing and other operations fields clear.
The Theory of Constraints:
(or TOC as it is called) is a one of the most profound developments in the practical
aspect of making organizational decisions in situations in which constraints exist.
The Theory of Constraints provides a practical framework for managing enterprises
with a holistic and focused approach and does away with conflicts between local
operating level decisions and global company objectives and goals.

A constraint is anything in an organization that limits it from moving toward or

achieving its goal. Of course, this assumes that an appropriate goal has been

defined. TOC recognizes two types of constraints that can exist in any business the
size notwithstanding. These are physical constraints and non-physical constraints.
A physical constraint is something like the physical capacity of a machine. A nonphysical constraint might be something like demand for a product, a corporate
procedure, or an individuals paradigm for looking at the world.
TOC brings in the powerful five focusing step methodology to identify the constraint
in the company and systematically attack the associated problems. The result is
dramatic improvements of throughput (or contribution) and customer order due date
performance, and inventory reduction.
The steps in applying TOC are as follows:
1. Identify the systems constraints..
2. Decide how to exploit the systems constraints. Once it is decided how to
manage the constraints within the system, how about the majority of the
resources that are not constraints? The answer is to manage them so that
they just provide what is needed to match the output of the constrained
resources.
3. Subordinate everything else to the above decision in Step 2. Since the
constraints are keeping us from moving toward our goal, all the resources are
applied that can assist in breaking them.
4. Elevate the systems constraints. If we continue to work toward breaking a
constraint (also called elevating a constraint) at some point the constraint will
no longer be a constraint. The constraint will be broken.
5. If the constraint is broken, return to Step 1. When that happens, there will be
another constraint, somewhere else in the system that is limiting progress to
the goal.
The process must be reapplied, perhaps many times. It is very important not to let
inertia become a constraint. Most constraints in organization are of their own making.
They are the entrenched rules, policies, and procedures that have developed over
time. Many times, when we finally break a constraint, we do not go back and review
and change the rules and policies that caused the constraint initially. Most
constraints in organizations today are policy constraints rather than physical
constraints.

2.
Eugene L. Grant (18971996) has not been accorded the status of other quality
pioneers, but nevertheless deserves to be mentioned with the others in this section.
In Struebing (1996), Juran is quoted as saying, His contribution to statistical
methodology was much greater than (W. Edwards) Demings. Even though his
impact on quality was profound and he was much more instrumental in advancing
quality than Deming, the mediawhich overstated Demings contribution didnt
publicize Grants contributions.
Grant has been described as a quiet worker who did not seek to extol his
accomplishments. He was an academic who spent over 30 years on the faculty of
Stanford University. In the field of quality improvement he was best known for his
classic book Statistical Quality Control, first published in 1946. Recent editions of the
book have been co-authored by Richard S. Leavenworth. The seventh edition was
published in 1996. A very large number of copies of the book were sold through the
various editions, but some observers felt that his teaching of statistical quality control
during World War II contributed at least as much to the increase in the use of quality
techniques as has his well-known book.

3.
Clarence Irving Lewis A major American pragmatist educated at Harvard, Lewis
taught at the University of California from 1911 to 1919 and at Harvard from 1920
until his retirement in 1953. Known as the father of modern modal logic and as a
proponent of the given in epistemology, he also was an influential figure in value
theory and ethics.
Dr. Deming was greatly influenced by Lewiss writings about the relationship
between information, experience, theory and knowledge. The importance of
operational definitions and the fact that there is no true value for anything that you
measure are concepts from this book. The importance of the theory of knowledge to
management was an outgrowth of Demings reading of this book in the 1930s.
The book is not an easy read. Some knowledge of basic philosophical thought would
be helpful before reading this book. Dr. Walter Shewhart recommended Lewiss book
to Deming. Dr. Deming reported that he had to read it a number of times before he
understood it. His recommendation was to start at Chapter 6.

4.
Shewhart was concerned that statistical theory serve the needs of industry. He
exhibited the restlessness of one looking for a better way. A man of science who
patiently developed and tested his ideas and the ideas of others, he was an astute
observer of developments in the world of science and technology. While the literature
of the day discussed the stochastic nature of both biological and technical systems,
and spoke of the possibility of applying statistical methodology to these systems,
Shewhart actually showed how it was to be done; in that respect, the field of quality
control can claim a genuine pioneer in Shewhart. His monumental work, Economic
Control of Quality of Manufactured Product,published in 1931, is regarded as a
complete and thorough exposition of the basic principles of quality control.

A strong background in the sciences and engineering prepared Shewhart for a life of
accomplishments. He graduated from the University of Illinois with bachelors and
masters degrees, and he received a doctorate in physics from the University of
California at Berkeley in 1917. He taught at the universities of Illinois and California,
and he briefly headed the physics department at the Wisconsin Normal School in
LaCrosse.
Most of Shewharts professional career was spent as an engineer at Western Electric
from 1918 to 1924, and at Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he served in several
capacities as a member of the technical staff from 1925 until his retirement in 1956.
He also lectured on quality control and applied statistics at the University of London,
Stevens Institute of Technology, the graduate school of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, and in India. He was a member of the visiting committee at Harvards
Department of Social Relations, an honorary professor at Rutgers, and a member of
the advisory committee of the Princeton mathematics department.

5.
TRIZ was developed by Genrich Saulovich Altshuller, a brilliant Jewish thinker from
the former USSR. He started this work in 1946 at the age of 20 when he began
systematically to study and catalogue patents looking for principles of innovation. At
that time he worked as a patent expert in the Caspian flotilla of the USSR NAVY in
Baku and hold many patents (the first one he received when he was 14).
The first publication about TRIZ appeared only in 1956 after several years spent in
GULAG (the system of prisons in the USSR). In the sixties and seventies G.S.
Altshuller wrote dozens of books and about 400 articles concerning TRIZ. At his 65
seminars he has taught thousands of students. Over 40 years of massive research
done by G.S. Altshuller and other TRIZniks resulted in the modern TRIZ
methodology that supports the process of innovative product concepts development
in relatively short time.At the end of eighties Genrich S. Altshullers interest was
switched to the theory of development of a creative person. This transition is natural.
TRIZ changes people that learn it, they become very inventive and creative.
G. S. Altshuller is the author of several patents; he has also written 5 science -fiction
books.
He was the President of the TRIZ Association from its establishment..
Genrich S. Altshuller was one of the giant thinkers of the 20th century and we hope
that his ideas will enrich engineering community forever.

6.
Genichi Taguchi The executive director of the American Supplier Institute, the
director of the Japan Industrial Technolgy Institute, and an honorary professor at
Nanjing Institue of Technology in China. Genichi Taguchi is well known for
developing a methodology to improve quality and reduce costs, which, in the United
States, is referred to as the Taguchi Methods. he also developed the quality loss
function.

Taguchis methodology is geared towards pushing the concepts of quality and

reliability back into the design stage, i.e. prior to manufacturing.
His method provides an efficient technique for designing product tests prior to
beginning manufacturing.
Taguchi methodology is fundamentally a prototyping technique that enables
engineers/ designers to produce a robust design which can survive repetitive
manufacturing in order to deliver the functionality required by the customer.
The more traditional Goalpost mentality of what is considered good quality says
that a product is either good or it isnt, depending or whether or not it is within the
specification range (between the lower and upper spec limits i.e. the goalposts). With
this approach, the specification range is more important than the nominal (target)
value. But, is the product as good as it can be, or should be, just because it is within
specifications? Taguchi says no to this.

Armand V. Feigenbaum

7.
Armand V. Feigenbaum is an American quality control expert and businessman.
Feigenbaum is the founder and president of General System Co., an international
engineering company that designs and implements total quality systems.
Armand V. Feigenbaum defined Total Quality Control as follows:
Total quality control is an effective system for integrating the quality development,
quality maintenance, and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an
organization so as to enable production and service at the most economical levels
which allow full customer satisfaction.
Armand V. Feigenbaum is also known for his concept of the hidden plant. That is
that in every factory a certain proportion of its capacity is wasted through not getting
it right first time. Feigenbaum quoted a figure of up to 40% of the capacity of the
plant being wasted. At the time this was an unbelievable figure; even today some
managers are still to learn that this is a figure not too far removed from the truth.

The elements of total quality to enable a totally customer focus (internal and
external)

Quality is the customers perception of what quality is, not what a company
thinks it is

Quality and cost are the same not different

Quality is an individual and team commitment

Quality and innovation are interrelated and mutually beneficial

Managing Quality is managing the business

Quality is a principal

Quality is not a temporary or quick fix but a continuous process of

improvement

Productivity gained by cost effective demonstrably beneficial Quality

investment

Implement Quality by encompassing suppliers and customers in the system

8.
Dr. Myron Tribus is perhaps best known as former director of the Center for
Advanced Engineering Study at M.I.T. Dr. Tribus headed the center when it
published W. Edwards Demings book, Out of the Crisis, and became one of
Demings leading supporters and interpreters.Dr. Tribus career as a leader in
engineering and management dates from World War II, when he did key pioneering
work on airplane de-icing as a design-development officer at Wright Field. He has
served as an aircraft engine designer for General Electric, Assistant Secretary for
Science and Technology in the U.S. Commerce Department, Senior V.P. for
Research & Engineering in Xerox Corp., and Dean of the Thayer School of
Engineering at Dartmouth College, where he led the faculty in developing a new
curriculum based on engineering design and entrepreneurship. He served for 16

years on the faculty of engineering at UCLA, 2 years on the faculty of the University
of Michigan and 12 years at MIT.
Dr. Tribus has published over 100 papers on topics ranging from academic subjects,
such as heat transfer, fluid mechanics, probability theory, statistical inference, and
thermodynamics, to applied topics such as sea water demineralization, aircraft
heating, aircraft ice prevention, and the design of engineering curricula. He has
published two books, Thermostatics and Thermodynamics, which provided the first
textbook that bases the laws of thermodynamics on information theory rather than on
the classical arguments, and Rational Descriptions, Decisions, and Designs, which
introduces Bayesian Decision methods into the engineering design process. He is a
co-founder of Exergy, a company specializing in the design of advanced, highefficiency power production systems.