Product Description

"Whatever advances American manufacturing has made in the last 30 to 40 years, we owe to Joe Juran." - Peter Drucker. No one in the last hundred years has had more influence on the worldwide practice of quality in business than Dr. Juran. The roots of Six Sigma, TQM, ISO 9000, and other major quality movements can all be found in his teachings and writings. In "Architect of Quality", the man who helped invent and champion quality management systems, quality circles, and teams long before they became standard practice tells the inspiring story of his life. Juran relates a classic American tale of a Romanian immigrant who overcame dire poverty and a childhood in a tar paper shack to make a profound impact on business and society. He candidly describes his rapid success and dramatic failure in his early years at Western Electric's famed Hawthorne plant and relives his experiences working on the war effort in Washington, DC, in the '40s and then advising postwar Japan on how to rebuild itself. Juran describes how he developed the core ideas behind the quality movement that started more than 60 years ago and now finds expression in the Six Sigma quality improvement movement.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1703930 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 350 pages

From the Back Cover
No one in the last hundred years has had more influence on the worldwide practice of quality in business than Dr. Joseph Juran. His work is the foundation for much of the quality movement of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries everything from Total Quality Management to Six Sigma. The teachings and writings of Dr. Juran have had a profound impact on the products we use every day, and his books are considered fundamental references by quality professionals.

In this revealing autobiography, Juran retraces his inspiring life journey from an impoverished, tragic childhood in a tar-papered shack to the revered man who helped invent and champion quality management systems, quality tools, and teams long before they became standard practice. Architect of Quality delves deep into Juran's motivations, sharing for the first time how the early hardships he faced and his relentless, aggressive spirit shaped his character and fueled his determination to succeed.

Born in Braila, Romania, in 1904, Juran left his native country as a child with his impoverished family for the Land of Opportunity, settling in Minneapolis. During the Depression his shoemaker father took up bootlegging, while Juran worked for the Minnesota State Prohibition Committee. After Juran's mother died his family fell apart, leaving his sisters in an orphanage. Young Juran moved with his father to the Minneapolis red light district and lived among "the bums." Somehow, despite these abject beginnings, Juran became the first in his family to earn a college degree and went on to achieve more than he could have ever dreamed possible.

Juran describes his rapid success and dramatic failure in his early years at Western Electric's famed Hawthorne plant, relives his experiences working on the war effort in Washington D.C. in the 1940s, and reveals how he developed the core ideas behind the quality movement. He also helped advise postwar Japan which would subsequently become the world quality, leader, and an economic superpower on how to rebuild itself. As the world revolution in managing for quality accelerated, Juran contributed extensively to that revolution and cemented his role as the world's seminal leader of the quality movement.

Brimming with rich details of family history, personal tragedies and triumphs, and the birth and development of the quality movement, Architect of Quality is a reflective, moving account of a remarkable life.

The compelling autobiography of the father of the worldwide quality revolution

Recognized as the world's seminal leader of the quality movement, Dr. Joseph Juran has earned the highest respect for his consulting, teaching, and, most especially, his writings where the roots of Six Sigma, TQM, ISO 9000, and other major quality movements can all be found. His books are considered fundamental for anyone interested in better understanding the meaning of quality and how best to integrate these principles in any organization.

In Architect for Quality, Juran recounts his fascinating life story, revealing how he overcame dire poverty and childhood tragedy to make a profound impact on business and society. In this frank memoir, Juran explores his motivations, the challenges he faced, and his choices in life, which led to his eventual development of the basic principles of quality. He offers a rare, personal behind-the-scenes look at his first jobs (which included manufacturing snake oil and scabbing during a railroad strike), his professional consulting years, and his work to spread the quality movement around the world which influenced millions and shaped the future of business.

About the Author
Dr. Joseph M. Juran helped to invent the modern discipline of quality. His books and videos on quality have been read and viewed by millions of people and have been translated into 17 languages. He is the editor of Juran's Quality Handbook, now in its fifth edition, the "bible" of the quality profession since 1951. He is the founder of the Juran Institute to create new tools and techniques for promulgating his ideas.

Customer Reviews

Honest, Generous, Inspiring
What I appreciated most about this book was it's honest tone. Juran has plenty of reasons to be proud of his contribution to the field of Quality Management. Nevertheless, he is quite frank about his limitations and past mistakes. In doing so, he makes the 'guru' approachable, eschewing the hero worship for the more important need to apply the management methods to the world's industrial problems.

I also appreciated his comments relating to his relationship with W Edwards Deming. He debunks the folklore about the two of them and is very frank about where they disagreed, and his perception of Deming's weaknesses. However, the underlying tone of his observations about his main professional rival is generous, not harsh. One senses that he believes that their contributions were ultimately complementary, rather than competitive, and that they were both greatly committed to the same goal. Whatever their differences were, I thought it was uplifting that he acknowledged Deming to have been 'a respected friend'. Hopefully this can contribute to the various factions in the Quality Movement being more willing to consider the views of all of the main thinkers, and develop a more complete and balanced approach to the discipline.

Perhaps its main message is that, though he may have been one of the key pioneers, the work can and must go on. For those who must pick up the torch for the next leg of the race, there is an underlying encouragement - that an ordinary, but dedicated, person can overcome the limitations of their past and personality, contributing significantly to making the world better.