Quality Control expert dies

Quality Control expert dies

Re.
Dr. Joseph M. Juran passed away last week in N.Y. at the age of 103. Dr. Juran was without doubt the world’s leading authority on the Quality Sciences and spent 70 years of his long life teaching, writing and consulting to manufacturing industries throughout the world. After World War 11 he was invited by the US government to go to Japan to help the Japanese rebuild their industries. The Japanese understood that quality reliability comes from quality improvement and defect prevention rather than from inspection. As we know, the Japanese became world leaders in product quality on practically everything from miniature radios to automobiles that continues to this day.
Juran returned to the USA and was disappointed to find US manufacturers in a post war boom focusing on output with little time for quality improvement. For several decades thereafter American companies were largely ineffective due to upper managers’ inability to correctly manage quality. Juran believed that quality improvements were key to businesses’ survival and profits. Many once successful companies went belly up or suffered severe losses when they ignored or abandoned quality activities. Things began to change in the 1980s as discerning consumers demanded better quality and reliability from US built products. Caterpillar, Peoria, hired Dr.Juran to give advice on how to catch-up on their major competitors from Japan, resulting in a quantum leap forward on product quality.
I am confident that quality conscious companies will continue to benefit from the Juran principles well into the future. His monumental influence in the field of quality management will live on after him.

Sam Black


To. Reader Forum
From.
Sam Black 217 W Northgate Rd, Peoria Il 61614 Ph. 691-7647
March 3rd 2008

A Tribute to Dr. Juran

A Message from The Juran Man

In 2007, Quality Digest referred to me as the "Juran Man." I was never told why. I hope it was because I learned and applied what he taught me. I would have never thought I would be running the Institute he founded 20 years later. In the 1980's, many quality professionals were arguing about which guru did the most for corporate America. Dr. Juran stayed out of the argument. He was so humble; he did not like being called a guru. He wanted to be known as a good researcher, business consultant, and contributor to society. Dr. Peter Drucker stated, "Joe Juran did more for American manufacturing than any other person in this century." I received many e-mails from around the world and will post them shortly. Thanks Dr. Juran for all your support and knowledge about life. We will miss you.