Philip Crosby: The Fun Uncle of the Quality
Revolution
"Do It Right the First Time"
Dr. Deming and Dr. Juran were the great brains of the quality
revolution. Where Phil Crosby excelled was in finding a
terminology for quality that mere mortals could understand. His
books, "Quality Without Tears" and "Quality is Free" were easy to
read, so people read them. He popularized the idea of the "cost
of poor quality", that is, figuring out how much it really costs
to do things badly.
Like Frederick Taylor, Philip Crosby's ideas came from his
experience on an assembly line. He focused on zero defects, not
unlike the focus of the modern Six Sigma Quality movement. Mr.
Crosby was quick to point out, however, that zero defects is not
something that originates on the assembly line. To create a
manufacturing process that has zero defects management must set
the tone and atmosphere for employees to follow. If management
does not create a system by which zero defects are clearly the
objective then employees are not to blame when things go astray
and defects occur. The benefit for companies of such a system is
a dramatic decrease in wasted resources and time spent producing
goods that consumer's do not want.
Mr. Crosby defined quality as a conformity to certain
specifications set forth by management and not some vague concept
of "goodness." These specifications are not arbitrary either;
they must be set according to customer needs and wants.
Four Absolutes of Quality Management
- Quality is defined as conformance to requirements, not as
'goodness' or 'elegance'.
- The system for causing quality is prevention, not
appraisal.
- The performance standard must be Zero Defects, not "that's
close enough".
- The measurement of quality is the Price of Nonconformance,
not indices.
Biography
Philip Crosby was Born in West Virginia in 1926. After serving in
WWII and the Korean War he has worked for Crosley,
Martin-Marietta and ITT where he was corporate vice president for
14 years. Philip Crosby Associates, Inc., founded in 1979, was
his management consulting firm that served served hundreds of
companies. Since retiring in 1991 he has founded Career IV, Inc.,
Philip Crosby Associates II, Inc. and the Quality College. Phil
Crosby died in August, 2001, but his legacy will live on in
better quality in thousands of organizations.
Here's an encomium from W. Noel Haskins-Hafer, a teacher of
quality improvement: 'He was one of the warmest and most focused
people I ever had the pleasure to meet and his common-sense
approach will be missed by many.'
Recommended Reading:
SkyMark is a software company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which focuses on creating software tools that help people improve the way they work.
Useful Links
2024 © SkyMark Corporation. All Rights Reserved.