If you are familiar with the work of legendary management consultant, W. Edwards Deming, this phrase is nothing new.
Sadly, few managers and leaders in North America are aware of his contributions to the modern business world—a fact that is especially troubling for food safety professionals.
At the root of it, food safety is about the creation and handling of quality products using quality inputs and quality processes. And W. Edwards Deming is widely acknowledged as the ‘Father of Quality.’ In fact, the national award for quality in Japan is the Deming Prize.
The Back Story
W. Edwards Deming finished his university education in 1928 with degrees in engineering, mathematics and physics. It was during this period, while a Ph.D. candidate at Yale, that he would spend his summers working for Western Electric where he had his first encounters with scientific management, productivity and working conditions.
Deming turned down a number of employment offers from private companies—including Bell Laboratories—to work for the U..S Department of Agriculture and, later, the U.S. Census Bureau. It was during this time that Dr. Deming was introduced to Walter Shewhart, a statistician who is known as the ‘father of statistical control.’