SRI SATHYA SAI INSTITUTE OF HIGHER LEARNING

MBAG 303 (T): MANAGEMENT OF QUALITY (Theory)

QUALITY GURUS: DEMING- 14 POINTS

Dr. Sanjay Mahalingam

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14 POINTS FOR MANAGEMENT
The 14 points were not meant to be a list of items to consider
adopting.

They were not meant to be a checklist you seek to mark as

complete.

They are part of Deming’s management system, read in conjunction

with his system of profound knowledge

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1. Create Constancy of Purpose
Constancy of purpose is about

long term thinking and

about thinking of the organization as a system.

And it relates to creating organizations that push decision making to those

at the gemba (those where the important is being done – where the
individuals that know the most about the situation are).

Customer focus

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 1. Create Constancy of Purpose
• It is easy to stay bound in the tangled Knots of the problems of today,
becoming ever more efficient in them (Deming, 1987), but no
company without a plan for future will stay in business

• Benefit to employee morale

• Do we have constancy of purpose? Have we communicated it to all?

• “ The business process starts with the customer; when it doesn't it

usually abruptly ends with him !” - Deming

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 2. Adopt the New Philosophy
Quality must become the new religion because Customers seldom
complain; they just switch ! But change is difficult.

• What is the new philosophy? –

• Higher quality costs less, not more

• Management is mostly responsible, not the worker

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 3. Cease Dependence on Mass Inspection
• The old way: Inspect bad quality out.
• The new way: Build good quality in.

• Inspection is ok to find out what you are doing; but not to weed out
bad quality because:
• Too costly
• Too ineffective
• Too late

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 3. Cease Dependence on Mass Inspection
• Count the number of F’s
• 10 Seconds…GO!!

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT

OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE
OF MANY YEARS

Lessons learnt?

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 4. End the Practice of Awarding Business on Price
Tag Alone
This common practice has many drawbacks. Some are,
• Supplier proliferation which in turn leads to Increased variability
• Reliance on Specifications and lack of loyalty and trust
• Cost overruns

What are some of the benefits with long-term partnerships with customers?
• Suppliers more likely to be innovative
• Suppliers more likely to be accommodative
• Suppliers more likely to be collaborative (What forms can collaboration take?)

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 5. Improve Constantly and Forever the System of
Production and Service
Deming suggests considering questions like
• Is the firm doing better than a year ago?
• Customers more satisfied?
• Pride and performance of the worker has improved?

Improvement is not an one-time effort. Quality must be continuous.

Quality must be built in the design stages. Once the plans are underway changes
are expensive and cause delay.
Everyone in every department must subscribe to continuous improvement
Management must lead the way in quality improvement
Putting out fires is not improvement
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 6. Institute Training on the Job
• Knowing How to Manage People Is the Single Most Important Part of Management (The
Essential Deming: page 170)

• If people have to contribute fully, training is vital. Worker training worker is sure shot
recipe for poor quality (Deming).

Good practices to institute training on the job include, training on:

• understanding variation (understanding what data does, and does not indicate is critical
to data based decision making)
• creating and understanding process flowcharts
• how to use PDSA to experiment, learn and improve
• job skills quality tools (control chart, fishbone diagram, value stream map etc.)

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 7. Institute Leadership
Leadership is the job of management. It is the responsibility of management to
discover the barriers that prevent workers from taking pride in what they do.

They are usually

• Emphasis on numbers, not quality

• Turning out the product quickly rather than properly
• A deaf ear to the workers’ suggestions
• Too much time spent on rework
• Poor tools
• Problems with incoming materials
• Poor training

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 8. Drive Out Fear
Fear is all pervasive!
The economic loss from fear is appalling! (Deming)

The waste due to fear is enormous. Its one of those invisible things and doesn’t get
management’s attention

Afraid people
• Don’t point out problems
• Don’t suggest new ideas
• Don’t admit mistakes and the mistake never gets rectified
• Don’t ask questions or seek clarifications
• Will not innovate because of fear of failure

FEAR TAINTS DATA

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 8. Drive Out Fear
Deming says
“Fear takes a horrible toll. Fear is all around, robbing people of their pride,
hurting them, robbing them of a chance to contribute to the company. It is
unbelievable what happens when you unloose fear”

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 9. Break Down Barriers Between Staff Areas

o Purchasing departments usually place orders based on written specifications but do not
understand how the material is going to be used. So when problems occur, they do not
always know about them.

o Designers keep coming up with designs that give engineers headaches

o Engineers often implement designs manufacturing cannot produce.

o Manufacturing produces what marketing cannot market and sell

JIT is not possible without breaking down barriers between staff areas. That is one of the
keys.

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 10. Eliminate Slogans, Exhortations,
and Targets for the Workforce
“Don’t skate on an oil slick” !!

Mere Imaginative slogans like “zero defects” are meaningless.

The implicit assumption in such sloganeering?

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 10. Eliminate Slogans, Exhortations,
and Targets for the Workforce
Deming says
“You can beat horses; they run faster for a while. Goals are like hay
somebody ties in front of the horse’s snout. The horse is smart enough to
eventually discover that no matter whether he canters or stands still, he cant
catch up with the hay. Might as well stand still. Why argue about it” it will
not happen except by a change in the system. That’s the management’s job
not the workers’.”

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 11. Eliminate Numerical Quotas
Numerical quotas impedes quality more than any other single working
condition. They almost certainly guarantee inefficiency and high cost.

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 12. Remove Barriers to Pride of Workmanship
When Dr. Deming takes on a corporate client he insists on meeting the workers
without the management. Results are often surprising!

Some Problems workers talk about

o They never really know what is expected of them
o They never got formally trained
o Standards change frequently
o Supervisors are not helpful
o They are seldom given feedback on their work until their performance is rated
o Equipments don’t work well and their calls are answered belatedly. Maintenance is slipshod.
o Inspection turns up defects but contains no clues how to correct them

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 13. Institute a Vigorous Program of
Education and Retraining
• It is not enough to have good people in your organization. They must
be continually acquiring new knowledge and new skills that are
required to deal with new materials and new methods of production.
Investment in people is required for long term planning

• As productivity improves, fewer people might be needed. Some jobs

may disappear and some may be added. The organization should
make clear that with improvement in productivity people will not be
fired but only reassigned

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 14. Take Action to Accomplish the Transformation
Management must agree on the meaning and direction to take on each of
the thirteen points.
Management will have to organize itself as a tem. A statistical consultant
may be needed. Every employee of the company must be involved but
management must lead the initiative.
They must have deep dissatisfaction with the way things are being are
done currently and the courage to change
Management must build critical mass by holding seminars etc. to explain
to the people in the company why change is necessary
Follow the Shewhart / Deming cycle. Plan---Do---Check---Act

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 Standard Company Deming Company
1. Quality is expensive. 1. Quality leads to lower costs.
2. Inspection is the key to quality. 2. Inspection is too late. If workers can produce defect-free goods, eliminate
inspections.
3. Quality control experts and inspectors assure quality. 3. Quality is made in the Boardroom.
4. Defects are caused by the workers. 4. Most defects are caused by the system.
5. The manufacturing process can be optimized by outside experts. No change in 5. Process can always be improved. Workers should be involved.
the system afterwards. No input from workers.

6. Use of work standards, quotas, and goals can help productivity. 6. Elimination of all work standards and quotas is necessary.

7. Fear and rewards are proper ways to motivate. 7. Fear leads to disaster.
8. People can be treated like commodities – buying more when needed, laying off 8. People should be made to feel more secure in their jobs.
when needing less.
9. Rewarding the best performers and punishing the worst will lead to greater 9. Most variation is caused by the system. Review systems can destroy
productivity and creativity. teamwork and the company.
10. Buy on lowest cost. 10. Buy from vendors committed to quality.
11. Play off one supplier against the other. 11. Work with suppliers.
12. Switch suppliers frequently based on price only. 12. Invest time and knowledge to help suppliers improve quality and costs.
Develop long-term relationships wit suppliers.

13. Profits are made by keeping revenue high and costs down. 13. Profits are generated by loyal customers.

14. Profit is the most important indicator of a company. 14. Running a company by profit alone is like driving a car by looking in the
rearview mirror. It tells you where you’ve been, not where you are going.
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