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W. Edwards Deming Quotes

Powerful W. Edwards Deming for Daily Growth

If you don't understand how to run an efficient operation, new machinery will just give you new problems of operation and maintenance. The sure way to increase productivity is to better administrate man and machine.

- W. Edwards Deming

New, Give, Sure Way, Efficient

A bad system will beat a good person every time.

- W. Edwards Deming

Bad, Will, System, Beat

Customer expectations? Nonsense. No customer ever asked for the electric light, the pneumatic tire, the VCR, or the CD. All customer expectations are only what you and your competitor have led him to expect. He knows nothing else.

- W. Edwards Deming

Your, Electric Light, Led, Asked

It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.

- W. Edwards Deming

Change, Survival, Necessary, Mandatory

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

Protection, Over, Took, Manufacturers

Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them.

- W. Edwards Deming

Business, Bring, About, Profit

People with targets and jobs dependent upon meeting them will probably meet the targets - even if they have to destroy the enterprise to do it.

- W. Edwards Deming

Will, Enterprise, Jobs, Targets

The prevailing - and foolish - attitude is that a good manager can be a good manager anywhere, with no special knowledge of the production process he's managing. A man with a financial background may know nothing about manufacturing shoes or cars, but he's put in charge anyway.

- W. Edwards Deming

Production, Prevailing, Manufacturing

Export anything to a friendly country except American management.

- W. Edwards Deming

Management, Country, Except, Export

No one knows the cost of a defective product - don't tell me you do. You know the cost of replacing it, but not the cost of a dissatisfied customer.

- W. Edwards Deming

Product, Tell, Cost, Dissatisfied

In 1945, the world was in a shambles. American companies had no competition. So nobody really thought much about quality. Why should they? The world bought everything America produced. It was a prescription for disaster.

- W. Edwards Deming

Thought, About, Bought, American Companies

Declining productivity and quality means your unit production costs stay high but you don't have as much to sell. Your workers don't want to be paid less, so to maintain profits, you increase your prices. That's inflation.

- W. Edwards Deming

Production, Maintain, Your, Declining

Quality is pride of workmanship.

- W. Edwards Deming

Work, Quality, Pride, Workmanship

Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival.

- W. Edwards Deming

Learning, Survival, Neither, Compulsory

Rational behavior requires theory. Reactive behavior requires only reflex action.

- W. Edwards Deming

Action, Only, Reactive, Reflex

When a system is stable, telling the worker about mistakes is only tampering.

- W. Edwards Deming

System, Telling, About, Stable

The big problems are where people don't realise they have one in the first place.

- W. Edwards Deming

Big, First Place, Realise, Big Problems

'Quality' means what will sell and do a customer some good - at least try to.

- W. Edwards Deming

Will, Some, Means, Customer

Innovation comes from the producer - not from the customer.

- W. Edwards Deming

Innovation, Producer, Customer

It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.

- W. Edwards Deming

Best, Know, Must, Do Your Best

Eliminate numerical quotas, including Management by Objectives.

- W. Edwards Deming

Including, Numerical, Objectives

The prevailing system of management has crushed fun out of the workplace.

- W. Edwards Deming

System, Prevailing, Crushed, Fun

The result of long-term relationships is better and better quality, and lower and lower costs.

- W. Edwards Deming

Better, Result, Costs, Long-Term

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

Another, Japan, Eliminated, Present

The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which seventy percent have nothing to do with work.

- W. Edwards Deming

Fifty, Average, Which, Interruptions

The emphasis should be on why we do a job.

- W. Edwards Deming

Job, Why, Should, Emphasis

American management thinks that they can just copy from Japan. But they don't know what to copy.

- W. Edwards Deming

Management, Know, Japan, Thinks

My mother was my biggest role model. She taught me to hate waste. We never wasted anything.

- W. Edwards Deming

Role Model, Waste, Role, Model

Research shows that the climate of an organization influences an individual's contribution far more than the individual himself.

- W. Edwards Deming

Contribution, Himself, Shows, Climate

Quality is everyone's responsibility.

- W. Edwards Deming

Work, Everyone, Quality

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