Contributions of Four Quality Gurus to Modern Day Quality Assurance in an Organization
Modern day Quality Assurance in an organization is focused on Total quality approach which is the result of the evolution of contributions of certain pioneers of Quality and Quality thoughts i.e. the Quality experts /gurus (Smith, 2009; Sallis, 2002). These include: Edwards Deming, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Walter Shewart, Joseph Juran, Genichi Taguchi, Admiral Hyman Rickover, Philip Crosby, Kaoru Ishikawa, Armand V. Feigenbaum, among others (Sallis, 2002; Smith, 2009; Suarez, 1992). The Total quality approach has the sole aim of ‘preventing mistakes or defects in manufactured products and avoiding problems when delivering solutions or services to customers’ (Wikipedia, 2014).Quality on the other hand has different dimensions. For example, one dimension sees Quality as “Conformance to a specification or standard” (Walsh, 1991), while another defines Quality as “fitness for purpose” (Ball, 1985; Crawford 1991) and so on.
The purpose of this literature therefore, is to discuss thoroughly the contributions of four of these Quality Experts (Walter A. Shewhart, Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran and Philip Crosby) to the development of modern day quality assurance in an organization.
Modern day Quality assurance cannot be discussed without mentioning the contributions of Walter A. Shewhart, who was born in 1891 and died in1967. Walter was one of the gurus who started the Quality revolution. He was a physicist who combined statistics, Engineering and Economics to bring efficiency and quality in the operations of the industry (Sallis, 2002).
To begin with, he developed the statistical process chart (SPC) in the early 1920s, which was an evolution of the ideas preached by Frederick Winslow Taylor in his Scientific Management (Sallis, 2002). The SPC applied Statistical methods to quality control. SPC monitors a process rather than waiting till after production to inspect the products for any defects. He focused on controlling processes, making quality relevant not only
The purpose of this literature therefore, is to discuss thoroughly the contributions of four of these Quality Experts (Walter A. Shewhart, Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran and Philip Crosby) to the development of modern day quality assurance in an organization.
Modern day Quality assurance cannot be discussed without mentioning the contributions of Walter A. Shewhart, who was born in 1891 and died in1967. Walter was one of the gurus who started the Quality revolution. He was a physicist who combined statistics, Engineering and Economics to bring efficiency and quality in the operations of the industry (Sallis, 2002).
To begin with, he developed the statistical process chart (SPC) in the early 1920s, which was an evolution of the ideas preached by Frederick Winslow Taylor in his Scientific Management (Sallis, 2002). The SPC applied Statistical methods to quality control. SPC monitors a process rather than waiting till after production to inspect the products for any defects. He focused on controlling processes, making quality relevant not only