4. Background
● born in Tokamachi, Japan on January
1, 1924.
● was an engineer and statistician
● developed a methodology for
applying statistics to improve the
quality of manufactured products
● was recruited and taken to the
Department of Astronomy of the
Navigation Institute of the Imperial
Japanese Navy in 1942.
● spent 12 years creating methods to
improve the quality and reliability of
the Electrical Communications
Laboratory.
● was also a consultant to Toyota.
5. Background ● finished his doctorate at the University
of Kyushu in 1962
● his methodology was growing little by
little, as well as in other important
companies such as the Ford Motor
Company, Boeing, Xerox and ITT
Corporation
● 1982, was an advisor to the Japanese
Standards Institute and executive
director of the Suppliers Institute of
America, an international consulting
organization.
● died on June 2, 2012, at the age of 88
years.
6. Contributions
Among the contributions of Taguchi, his
contribution to industrial statistics stands out. The
Japanese suggested that it is cheaper to
redesign the manufacturing processes and
products than to perform quality improvement
actions after an audit. Based on this concept,
Genichi Taguchi created his own philosophy of
quality in which he proposed:
● Loss function: Quality must be defined in
monetary form through the loss function, in which
the greater the variation of a specification with
respect to the nominal value, the greater the
monetary loss transferred to the consumer.
● Continuous improvement: The continuous
improvement of the productive process and the
reduction of variability are essential to survive at
present.
● Variability: Can be quantified in monetary terms,
the variability of the operation of the product
causes a loss to the user.
7. Contributions
● Product design: Quality is generated
and the final cost of the product is
determined.
● Optimization of product design: A
product can be designed based on the
non-linear part of its response, in order
to reduce its variability.
● Optimization of the process design:
Variability is reduced by means of the
design of experiments, by selecting the
optimal levels of the variables involved
in the manufacture of the product.
● Quality Engineering: Divided into line
and offline engineering.
Taguchi also raised the concept of robust quality,
which was oriented to the design of the product in
a uniform way even if it was manufactured in
unfavorable conditions.
11. Background
● Born in Wheeling, West Virginia, United States on June 18, 1926
● Was a businessman and author and also recognized as an influential quality
guru
● Studied pediatrics in his early years and obtained his degree from Case
Western Reserve University
● Start work by working in a manufacturing plant as an assembly worker
● During this period, in 1979, he published ‘ a book Quality is Free: The Art of
Making Quality Certain,’ in which he presents a case study showing how the
ITT Corporation saved million dollars by applying his quality concepts
● Book is translated in more than 15 languages, and more than 2.5 million
copies have been sold.
● Establish his own company, the Philip Crosby Associates (PCA) in Florida.
● PCA is a quality management consulting firm that focuses on areas including
quality management, process reengineering, managerial skill development,
12. Background
● In 1997, Philip Crosby also established Philip
Crosby Associates II, a teaching center in the
field of quality control
● Best known for the quality management
concepts Quality is Free, Zero Defects, and
the Four Absolutes of Quality
● Several books such as ‘Quality is Free: The
Art of Making Quality Certain and and ‘Quality
Without Tears: The Art of Hassle-Free
Management.’
13. Contributions
1) The major contribution made by Crosby is indicated by the fact that his phrases ‘zero defects’ ,
‘getting it right first time’ and ‘conformance to requirements’ have now entered not only the
vocabulary of quality itself, but also the general vocabulary of management.
2) Crosby devised the principle of “ doing it right for the first time “ (DIRFT). He also included 4 major
principles:
- The definition of quality is conformance to product and customers requirement.
-Prevention is the system of quality.
-Zero Defects should be the performance standard.
-Quality measurements is the price of non-conformance.
14. Contributions
He believed that establishment of good quality management principles in organisation will have more savings returns than
what the organisation pays for the cost of the quality system. Crosby stated that since “quality is free” it is less expensive to
do it right the first time rather than paying for repairs and reworks.
Crosby’s zero defects theory states that there is no existence of waste in a project. Waste refers to anything that is
unproductive i.e. processes, tools and employee etc. Anything that is not adding any value to a project should be eliminated.
Eliminating waste leads to process improvement and consequently lowers costs. The zero defects theory is the concept of
doing it right the first time to avoid cost and time spent later in the process of project management.
According to him, the 4 absolutes of quality management are:
-Quality is conformance to requirements.
-Quality prevention is preferable to quality inspection.
-Zero defects is the quality performance standard.
-Quality is measured in monetary terms-the price of non-conformance.
15. Contributions
Crosby gave 14 steps for quality improvement. They are as follows:
1) Management commitment - Make it clear that management is committed to quality.
2) Quality improvement teams- Form quality improvement teams with senior representatives from each department.
3) Measure processes- Measure processes to determine where current and potential quality problems lie.
4) Cost of quality- Evaluate the cost of quality and explain its use as a management tool.
5) Quality awareness- Raise the quality awareness and personal concern of all employees.
6) Correct problems- Take actions to correct problems identified through previous steps.
7) Monitor progress- Establish progress monitoring for the improvement process.
8) Train supervisors- Train supervisors to actively carry out their part of the quality improvement program.
9) Zero defects day- Hold a zero defects day to reaffirm management commitment.
10) Establish improvement goals- Encourage individual to establish improvement goals for themselves and their group.
11) Remove fear- Encourage employees to tell management about obstacles to improving quality.
12) Recognize- Recognize and appreciate those who participate.
13) Quality councils- Establish quality councils to communicate on a regular basis.
14) Repeat the cycle- Do it all over again to emphasize that the quality improvement process never ends.
16. Conclusion
Philip Crosby’s ideas on quality came from his vast experience of working with an
assembly line. His main focus was on zero defects which ultimately led to the
adoption of this concept by the modern Six Sigma Quality movement.
Mr. Crosby explained the ideas that zero defects is not a phenomenon that
originated on the assembly line. He defined quality as a conformity to a set of
specifications defined by the management rather than a vague concept of
“goodness”. However, these specifications are set according to the needs and
wants of the customer rather than being arbitrarily defined.
