Life and Contributions of A.V. Feigenbaum
Armand V. Feigenbaum – Life and Contributions
Armand Feigenbaum was born in 1922. Feigenbaum was the first to define a systems engineering approach to quality. Feigenbaum’s concept of total quality control, known today as total quality management (TQM), combines management methods and economic theory with organizational principles. Feigenbaum’s career initiated his significant contributions to total quality management. He began his career with General Electric (GE) in 1937 as an apprentice toolmaker and management intern with the turbine, engine and transformer group. He entered Union College in Schenectady, NY, in 1938 to study engineering while continuing his work at GE. His coursework focused on mathematics, statistics, engineering and economics. When he graduated in 1942, he joined GE as a full-time design engineer. Later in 1943, he was named manager of quality control for the Schenectady Works plant in New York at 23 years old. He went on to graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was later promoted to GE’s corporate headquarters in New York City to serve as the executive champion for quality. Feigenbaum served as the American Society of Quality (ASQ) president from 1961 to 1963 and co-founded the International Academy for Quality with Kaoru Ishikawa of Japan and Walter Masing of Germany. After years of working for GE, in 1968 Feigenbaum established General Systems Co. (GSC) to further research technology management (Watson). GSC is an engineering firm that designs and installs operational systems for corporations in the U.S., Europe, the Far East, and Latin America.
While working at GE, Feigenbaum applied the lessons he learned at MIT to examine observations about how productivity improvement could be achieved by driving quality in a different way from how it had been. He also introduced two new concepts to the quality management discipline that served as a defining moment for business: systems engineering and
Armand Feigenbaum was born in 1922. Feigenbaum was the first to define a systems engineering approach to quality. Feigenbaum’s concept of total quality control, known today as total quality management (TQM), combines management methods and economic theory with organizational principles. Feigenbaum’s career initiated his significant contributions to total quality management. He began his career with General Electric (GE) in 1937 as an apprentice toolmaker and management intern with the turbine, engine and transformer group. He entered Union College in Schenectady, NY, in 1938 to study engineering while continuing his work at GE. His coursework focused on mathematics, statistics, engineering and economics. When he graduated in 1942, he joined GE as a full-time design engineer. Later in 1943, he was named manager of quality control for the Schenectady Works plant in New York at 23 years old. He went on to graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was later promoted to GE’s corporate headquarters in New York City to serve as the executive champion for quality. Feigenbaum served as the American Society of Quality (ASQ) president from 1961 to 1963 and co-founded the International Academy for Quality with Kaoru Ishikawa of Japan and Walter Masing of Germany. After years of working for GE, in 1968 Feigenbaum established General Systems Co. (GSC) to further research technology management (Watson). GSC is an engineering firm that designs and installs operational systems for corporations in the U.S., Europe, the Far East, and Latin America.
While working at GE, Feigenbaum applied the lessons he learned at MIT to examine observations about how productivity improvement could be achieved by driving quality in a different way from how it had been. He also introduced two new concepts to the quality management discipline that served as a defining moment for business: systems engineering and