"There is not a day I don't think about what Dr Deming meant to us. Deming is at the core of our management" - Shoichiro Toyoda. Toyota director and chairman.
Meanwhile, companies in the West jump from worthless fad to fad. There is no magic bullet to Quality. The key to Toyota's success is engaging everyone in the fundamentals of Quality. Keep it simple.
9 of Professor Deming's "14 points" relate directly to empowering workers, the real process experts, in the way Toyota does. Managers in the West live in fear and fail. They even need a word in Japanese (gemba) to go near the workers, let alone speak to them and involve them in Quality.
We have engaged 500,000 workers in Quality, by making learning fun. We use interactive games, simulations and exercises. The video cap shows a game based on a true story in process improvement. It teaches every employee what control charts are and the right way to use them. Workers want to learn about Quality. They want to be involved.
Involving the skills of the front line experts, requires changes in attitude. Barriers need to be broken down.
by Dr Tony Burns BE (Hon 1) PhD (Chem Eng)