Content area
Full Text
The principles and tenets of quality's pioneers are just as relevant and valuable today as they were when developed decades ago. This holds true for the body of work of Armand V. Feigenbaum, who shared his views on the current status and future of quality during an interview and network discussion held at the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement in May in Seattle. The following is an excerpt from that session, which I moderated.
Kubiak: Dr. Feigenbaum, years ago, you developed a list of nine points (see Table 1). Reflecting back over that list, what, if anything, would you change? Why or why not? Has the importance of each point shifted over time? What would you emphasize?
Feigenbaum: I would have added two points from the wisdom, if that's what you call it, 1 have accumulated over the years. One is to emphasize customer value. The other is to emphasize management innovation based on the principle that whatever you do to make quality better makes everything else better. It's a handle on improvement from a management leadership point of view.
K: Have you seen anything shift over time? Have you seen anything on that list rise to the top or settle on the bottom?
F: One of the most cyclic areas in quality has been the recognition that the people who are most familiar with doing things better are the people who are closest to the work itself. A number of speeches have been made and motivation sessions have been held that were characterized by firework displays, but when employees went back to their jobs, nothing had changed. This has been one of the least effectively practiced areas, and I think it will probably continue to be one of the leading areas requiring greater practical application from the point of view of the quality field.
K: One of the things you introduced, probably 55 years ago, was the concept of total quality control, with an emphasis on total. And I believe it was 1991 when you revised your book on total quality control and included 10 crucial tenets for total quality (see "Feigenbaum's Enduring Influence," p. 51). Today's quality approaches, including ISO 9000, the Baldrige award criteria, lean and Six Sigma, are much...