If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing. W. EDWARDS DEMING CanDescribeDoKnowProcess
In Japan, a company worker’s position is secure. He is retrained for another job if his present job is eliminated by productivity improvement. W. EDWARDS DEMING AnotherCountryEliminateImprovementPositionPresentProductivityRetrainSecureWorker
A man with a financial background may know nothing about manufacturing shoes or cars, but he’s put in charge anyway. W. EDWARDS DEMING AnywayBackgroundChargeFinanceKnowManManufactureNothingShow
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. W. EDWARDS DEMING ChangeMandatoryNecessaryNotSurvival
The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which seventy percent have nothing to do with work. W. EDWARDS DEMING AverageCountryDayFiftym InterruptionNothingPercentSeventhWorkWorker
Your workers don’t want to be paid less, so to maintain profits, you increase your prices. That’s inflation. W. EDWARDS DEMING IncreaseInflationLessMaintainPaidPriceProfitWantWorker
You know the cost of replacing it, but not the cost of a dissatisfied customer. W. EDWARDS DEMING CostCustomerDissatisfiedKnowreplace
Research shows that the climate of an organization influences an individual’s contribution far more than the individual himself. W. EDWARDS DEMING ClimateContributionIndividualInfluenceMoreOrganisationResearchShow
Quality is the responsibility of the top people. Its origin is in the boardroom. They are the ones who decide. W. EDWARDS DEMING BoardroomDecideOneOriginPeopleQualityResponsibleTwo
Declining productivity and quality means your unit production costs stay high but you don’t have as much to sell. W. EDWARDS DEMING CostDeclineHighMeanMustProductionQualitySellUntil
Export anything to a friendly country except American management. W. EDWARDS DEMING AnythingCountryExceptExportFriendlyManagement
I predicted in 1950 that in five years, manufacturers the world over would be screaming for protection. It took only four years. W. EDWARDS DEMING AgoFiveFourManufactureOverPredictProtectionScreamTookWorldYear
Rational behavior requires theory. Reactive behavior requires only reflex action. W. EDWARDS DEMING ActionBehaviourRationalReactiveRelaxRequireTheory
If you don’t understand how to run an efficient operation, new machinery will just give you new problems of operation and maintenance. W. EDWARDS DEMING GiveJustMachineryMaintainneceNewOperationProblemRunUnderstand
American management thinks that they can just copy from Japan. But they don’t know what to copy. W. EDWARDS DEMING CopyCountryJustManagementThink
The big problems are where people don’t realise they have one in the first place. W. EDWARDS DEMING BigCustomerFirstGoodOnePeoplePlaceProblemRealiseSomeWhere
When a system is stable, telling the worker about mistakes is only tampering. W. EDWARDS DEMING MistakeOnlyStableSystemTamperTellWhenWorker
