The Legacy of W.
Edwards Deming
Editor’s note: I am sad to report that Junji Noguchi died Oct. 10 after a long struggle with leukemia. In addition to all the work he
did through the years for the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers, he always made time to help Quality Progress collect
information for articles about Deming Prize recipients and other major quality developments in Japan. Noguchi continued to work
on the following article until about a week before his death, providing additional information for readers. When W. Edwards Deming
died, he gathered recollections of Deming from six leading individuals in the Japanese quality movement. To these comments he
added his own. He concluded with “God bless Deming.” May God also bless Noguchi.
W.
EDWARDS D EMING ’ S GREAT
legacy was that he opened the
way for quality control by
means of statistical methods
in Japan. The Japanese gov-
ernment showed its appreciation for this work by
honoring him with an imperial award and, more
important, establishing an award in his name.
Inevitably, though, distortions and exaggera-
tions regarding the work of famous people occur,
and recent biographies written about Deming are
no exception. The “Deming cycle” is one such dis-
A longtime tortion. Another is that Deming was the only qual-
ity control person who helped Japan. Still another
Japanese is that most of the doctrines Deming emphasized
at the end of his life were given in Japan during
quality leader the summer of 1950. By showing an historical per-
recounts what spective of what happened in Japan in the 1950s
and by rectifying some of the distortions, it is
an American hoped that the truth about W. Edwards Deming’s
legacy will be known.
contributed to
Quality control emerges in Japan
Japan. In 1948, the Civil Communication Section of
the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers (CCS-
SCAP) conducted a management course in Japan
on quality control for Japanese executives in the
electronic communications industry. About one
year later, in the spring of 1949, the Union of
Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) orga-
by nized the Quality Control Research Group
Junji Noguchi (QCRG) and began collaborative research on sta-
tistical quality control with statisticians, engineers,
business administrators, government offices, and
private sector technical engineers. Later that year,
in September, JUSE introduced a basic one-year
quality control course, approximately 200 hours,
aimed at training engineers from 20 volunteer
companies.
In March 1950, because of the rapidly increas-
ing nationwide demand for quality control train-
ing, JUSE created a monthly bulletin called
Statistical Quality Control. The editorial staff, pri-
marily QCRG members, was led by Ichiro
Ishikawa, the first chairman of the Federation of
Economic Organizations and the chairman of
JUSE. Each of the editorial staff members took on
a variety of roles in the publication, working as
writers, editorial committee members, and editorial
advisors; they became the pioneers of quality con-
trol in Japan.
As this group became more involved in quality
control activities, it recognized an inability to
apply statistical methods to more difficult prob-
lems in the production area and, consequently,
decided to invite an American quality control
expert to Japan.
JUSE asked SCAP to look for an expert. A sec-
retary in the Economic Science Section remem-
bered that a statistical quality control expert, W.
Edwards Deming, was one of the members of the
economic survey mission dispatched by the U.S.
government in 1947. Japanese and government sta-
tisticians were acquainted with Deming from his
visit; therefore, arrangements began immediately
to invite him to Japan.
After Deming’s visit had been confirmed, care-
ful preparations by JUSE, the Supreme Command,
and industrial, academic, and government circles
were made. Ishikawa contacted top executives of
JUSE’s 200 member companies and asked them to
send engineers to participate in Deming’s seminar
and lectures. Statistics and engineering professors
planned lectures at their institutes and universities.
The Japanese government promoted Deming as an
expert in census-taking methods. SCAP paid for
his airfare and accommodations and gave him the
title “Statistics Advisor to SCAP.” In addition, a
special office was prepared for Deming at the
Imperial Hotel.
Deming arrives in Japan: 1950
Deming arrived in Fukuoka, Japan, on June 16
and was busy for the next 68 days. When he
wasn’t conducting courses during the afternoon, he
was visiting a variety of businesses. Most of his
evenings were booked with dinner engagements.
Deming recalled, “I must have met with a thou-
sand engineers, managers, and scholars. Every day
was very fulfilling.”1
/
Quality Progress December 1995 35
 His courses and lectures had a big impact on quality control
in Japan; Deming himself best described this impact in the mes-
sage that he presented annually to Deming prize winners from
1979 to 1993:
“Management learned in 1950 what they must do to achieve
continual improvement of quality. Hundreds of Japanese engi-
neers learned the methods of Walter A. Shewhart. Quality
became at once in 1950, and ever after, everybody’s job, com-
panywide, nationwide....Improvement of quality leads to
decrease in cost of production, and captures the market. This is
the fundamental chain reaction that Japanese industry learned
and adopted as a way of life in my visit to Japan in the summer
of 1950 and in many subsequent visits....The achievement of
Japanese industry toward ever better quality at reduced cost
constitutes lessons in management for the whole world.”2
Deming recalled, “I must have met with a thou-
sand engineers, managers, and scholars. Every
day was very fulfilling.”
During 1950, Deming conducted 10 lectures and three train-
ing courses, including eight-day courses on quality control in
Tokyo (230 participated) and Fukuoka (110 participated), and a
course on top management quality control in Hakone (46
participated). Supplementary lectures and commentaries by
collaborating Japanese instructors were given during the cours-
es, but for the most part, Deming conducted the lectures by
himself.
His top management course was created on the spur of the
moment. Three days before his departure, 21 managers who
were attending a dinner party with Deming requested the
course. Deming quickly put together a presentation that empha-
sized using market surveys, because they grasp what is most
useful and desired by customers. An interpreter translated
Deming’s ideas one by one as he discussed the following
points:
• Japan has a high level of statistical knowledge, but it is
important that it be applied practically.3
• It is necessary to employ those who have technical knowl-
edge of and experience in statistics.4
• Confer with mathematical statisticians who will be able to
assist engineers.5
• Through enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility toward
quality control on the part of managers, it is possible to create
opportunities for engineers to implement it.6
• Quality control is a method of economically producing that
which is most useful and, moreover, most desired by cus-
tomers.7
Overall, Deming’s visit to Japan was a success. Featured on
the front page of the August 1950 issue of Statistical Quality
Control were comments such as:
• “The ease with which he was able to speak in simple terms
was admirable. He showed that quality control is not exclu-
sively for those who are strong in mathematics. The usual
diffidence of production area technicians who lack mathe-
matical knowledge, but who should be the ones actually in
charge of quality control, has been completely wiped away.”
• “Through demonstrations and practical training during the
36 /
Quality Progress December 1995
lectures we were able to grasp the true objectives of quality
control, and, while only a first step, we were able to master
correct methods that we might begin using immediately.”
• “Dr. Deming’s lectures in Japan were of use not only to those
in attendance, but serve also as an example of excellent
American teaching methods for lecturers in Japan.”8
Return visits: 1951 and 1952
In July 1951, Deming returned to Japan for 66 days to con-
duct four courses for JUSE: an eight-day quality course in
Tokyo (180 participants), an eight-day advanced quality course
in Osaka (226 participants), a 32-day sampling seminar in
Tokyo (60 participants), and a top management quality control
course in Nikko (40 participants). Collaborating Japanese
instructors conducted about half of each of the first three cours-
es. Deming also presented five public lectures.
In January of the following year, Deming stopped in Japan
again on his way home from India. He stayed only 12 days, but
conducted a six-day market research clinic (29 participants) and
a six-day quality control and market research clinic (12 partici-
pants) in Atami.
Although Deming visited Japan 15 more times after 1952,
the courses he taught in 1952 were his last in Japan. He did
speak at eight celebrations that commemorated the establish-
ment of the Deming Prize, and three times (1969, 1978, and
1987) at the International Conference on Quality Control held
in Japan.
Deming’s courses were best received when he lectured on
quality control topics in 1950. When he began to shift his
emphasis to sampling methods for market surveys on his trips
in 1951 and 1952, his lectures drew less attention.
Later, when he returned to Japan to speak at a conference or
Deming Prize celebration, people felt that he did not speak
about new ideas or methods. His popularity in Japan, however,
did not diminish.
Prior to Deming’s visits in the early 1950s, Japanese quality
control had been butting its head against a wall created by
adherence to difficult statistics theories. With Deming’s help,
this wall was torn down. His courses were so successful that
JUSE incorporated the content of Deming’s eight-day quality
control course into a 30-day course (five days per month over a
period of six months) that remains in place today. And in 1956,
Deming’s eight-day course was revived as a quality control
introduction course that is also still taught.
In 1960, the Japanese government presented
Deming with the Order of the Sacred Treasure.
The Deming Prize and a prediction for Japan’s future
Deming declined to receive royalties from the transcripts of
his 1950 lectures, so JUSE’s board of directors established the
Deming Prize to repay him for his friendship and kindness. The
234-page (86 pages in English, 148 pages in Japanese) tran-
script, “Dr. W. Edwards Deming: Lecture on Statistical Control
of Quality, 1950,” sold about 2,000 copies in its initial printing,
2,000 in the second printing, and 1,700 in the third printing.
When Deming attended the first Deming Prize awards cere-
mony, he expressed appreciation and predicted that Japan
would soon prosper: “In manufacturing and production, it is
necessary to consider everything from raw materials and
resources to the farthest reaches of consumer markets. I have
always emphasized that statistical techniques may be employed
in every aspect of this, but already I see that there are compa-
nies actually beginning to create statistical technique systems
based on such ideas. With such excellent systems coming into
being, Japan will not lag behind other countries in terms of
international trade competitiveness. It is my firm conviction that
any late aspects are well on their way to prosperity.”9
Deming often said, “In 1951, I was the only foreigner who
believed in the development shown by Japan today.”10
JUSE’s board of directors established the
Deming Prize to repay Deming for his friend-
ship and kindness.
Deming receives an imperial award
In 1960, the Japanese government presented Deming with
the Second Class Order of the Sacred Treasure. The first half of
the meritorious service record describes his work in Japan:
• 1947 Rice Statistics Mission member
• 1950 assistant to the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces
• Instructor for sample survey method in government statistics
The second half of the record lists his service to private enter-
prise through the introduction of epochal ideas, such as quality
control and market survey techniques.
While this award honored Deming’s contributions to Japan,
quality control was not highly valued at the time, and S.A. Rice,
the head of the Statistics Mission in 1947, received the Second
Class Order of the Rising Sun—one rank above the Order of the
Sacred Treasure—at the same time. Deming wasn’t the only
American hero in Japan.
The PDCA and the Deming cycle
At some point, the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle came to
be known as the Deming cycle. Unfortunately, Deming did not
invent this phrase.
Deming never used the PDCA phrase in his lectures. In his
later years, however, he did call a circle divided into four or
eight equal parts a Shewhart cycle. He also used a circle divided
into four parts in his top management course and a circle divid-
ed into eight parts in his eight-day courses. Deming later talked
about the conformity between the circle divided into four equal
parts and the PDCA cycle.
It is not exactly clear when the PDCA cycle came to be
referred to as the Deming cycle, but lately instructors in Japan
have returned to calling it the PDCA cycle.
Deming’s work in America
Although Japanese industries were aware of Deming’s mira-
cle comeback in the United States, which occurred after the
June 24, 1980, television broadcast, “If Japan Can, Why Can’t
We?” they were not familiar with his four-day course or his 14
points for management improvement. During his visits to Japan
in the 1980s, he made no mention of the courses that he con-
ducted 30 times annually in the United States. The four-day
course and the 14 points were strictly for the benefit of
American industry.
In 1965, Deming’s eight-day course was revived
as a quality control introduction course that
is still taught today.
The Deming legacy
Deming ignited Japanese industries in Japan in the 1950s.
His courses are still being taught there today. In his later years,
though, Deming concentrated on helping American industries.
He presented new doctrines and described himself as “a man
who spent his life trying to keep America from committing sui-
cide.” He shifted his attention and ended up influencing and
leaving behind his legacy in two nations, the two economic
powers of the world. His legacy is best described in the inscrip-
tion on the Deming Prize medal: “The right quality and unifor-
mity are foundations of commerce, prosperity, and peace.”
References
1. From Junji Noguchi’s notes about W. Edwards Deming.
2. From W. Edwards Deming’s letter, Oct. 28, 1992, to JUSE send-
ing congratulations to the Deming Prize winners in 1992.
3. JUSE, Engineer Club, 1950, No. 28, p. 2; and JUSE, Statistical
Quality Control, Sept. 1950, Vol. 1, No. 7, p. 3.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. JUSE, Engineer Club, 1950, No. 27, p. 5; and JUSE, Statistical
Quality Control, Sept. 1950, Vol. 1, No. 7, p. 3.
8. JUSE, Statistical Quality Control, Aug. 1950, Vol. 1, No. 6, p. 1.
9. JUSE, Engineers, Sept. 1951, No. 41, p. 3; and JUSE, Statistical
Quality Control, 1951, Vol. 2, No. 10, p. 1.
10. JUSE, Engineers, Jan. 1983, p. 13.
Junji Noguchi was a senior advisor for the Union of Japanese
Scientists and Engineers in Tokyo, Japan. He had a bachelor’s
degree in chemical engineering from the Tokyo Institute of
Technology. He was a senior member of ASQC.
What did you think about this article?
Quality Progress needs your Excellent Circle #321
feedback. On the postage-paid
reader service card inserted toward Good Circle #322
the back of this magazine, please
circle the number that corresponds Fair Circle #323
with your opinion of the preceding Poor Circle #324
article.
/
Quality Progress December 1995 37