BOOK
THAT STARTED THE QUALITY REVOLUTION TURNS 25
Philip
Crosby Associates marks the 25th anniversary of Crosby’s
classic Quality Is Free;
special events planned for 2005 American Society for Quality show
in Seattle in May
Winter Park,
Fla. and Boston, Mass., January 14, 2005 – Philip Crosby
Associates (PCA) announced today that it is kicking off a year-long
campaign to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the publication
of Philip B. Crosby’s classic book, Quality Is Free.
At a time
when fellow gurus Deming, Juran, and Ishikawa were focused on
the highly technical aspects of quality measurement and control,
Crosby’s Quality Is Free hit the bookstores 25 years ago
with a simple but powerful message: quality is much too important
to be left to the quality control department; senior management
must commit to quality if things are to change; and doing things
right the first time adds absolutely nothing to the cost of a
product or service. Crosby showed managers everywhere that doing
things wrong makes costs skyrocket. More importantly, he showed
that management was the root cause of these problems.
The book set
off a revolution in corporate thinking because it shifted the
responsibility for the quality of goods and services from the
quality control department to the corporate boardroom, attacked
the entrenched notions of ‘good enough’ and Acceptable
Quality Levels (AQL), and introduced Zero Defects as the only
acceptable performance standard, setting the stage for the Six
Sigma movement that followed in later years.
Before Crosby’s
best selling book, it was commonly assumed that quality was achieved
through inspection. Inspectors were necessary to sort the good
from the bad, with ever more defect-free shipments requiring ever
more examiners. With this mindset, creating quality goods and
services requires increased expenditures. Mr. Crosby broke that
paradigm by showing the road to perfect goods and services was
through prevention, not inspection. The defect that is never created
cannot be missed. Identifying and eliminating the causes of problems
reduces rework, warranty costs, and inspection. Following Mr.
Crosby’s approach, creating quality goods and services does
not cost money, it saves money. In essence, quality is free for
enlightened organizations.
“The
25th anniversary of Quality Is Free has given us all the opportunity
to reflect on the state of quality today,” said Kevin Weiss,
CEO of Philip Crosby Associates. “While the speed of business,
the enabling technologies, and the global nature of markets have
changed since Mr. Crosby wrote Quality Is Free, the basic link
between quality and business results have not. The more a business
follows Mr. Crosby’s pragmatic advice, the better it performs.”
Mr. Crosby
was a prime mover in the quality business, first as head of quality
for the global behemoth ITT and then as one of the most highly
respected and sought-after quality management consultants and
educators. With Quality Is Free he claimed his place among the
best-selling authors in the field, following that success with
Quality Without Tears, Completeness, The Art of Getting Your Own
Sweet Way, Running Things, and The Eternally Successful Organization
– books that extended the basic philosophy outlined in his
groundbreaking work.
PCA will focus
on the 25th anniversary May 16 - 18 during the American Society
for Quality (ASQ) World Conference, in Seattle. PCA will have
a display booth and will sponsor the Internet Café, where
attendees may check their email, access the web, and learn more
about Mr. Crosby and his philosophy.
At the PCA
booth, conference attendees will be able to:
- Share stories.
PCA is creating a special webpage, www.philipcrosby.com/25years,
where visitors can submit thoughts on how Quality Is Free has
impacted their lives. The page will be available both before and
at the ASQ show; computers at the PCA-sponsored Internet Café
will default to the commemorative page.
- Review PCA
timeline. Follow the quality revolution from the publication of
Quality Is Free to present through the timeline that will be on
display.
- Preview
New Offerings. At the show, PCA will be announcing several new
offerings that build upon the Crosby foundation. Attendees will
be able to learn more about them.
~ About
Our Companies ~
In today’s
marketplace, only capable companies will survive and thrive. The
overarching goal of Philip Crosby Associates (PCA) and The Capability
Group (TCG) is to give companies the culture, tools, methodology
and results-focused support to become ‘Capable Organizations’
— useful, reliable, adaptable, and ever-focused on achieving
customer success.
PCA and TCG
deliver on this goal by first working with clients to assess where
they are on the maturity spectrum and where they want to go. For
companies early in the process, we work hand-in-hand with management
to install a culture of prevention — the culture that has
been championed by the PCA side of our business since quality
management guru and PCA founder Philip Crosby published Quality
is Free 25 years ago. Crosby’s techniques have been implemented
by many of the Fortune 500, as well as small and mid-sized companies
seeking excellence.
Once the foundation
of the Capable Organization is present, TCG steps in to help clients
take their efforts to the next level by further reducing costs,
enhancing quality, and promoting growth. TCG was founded by Kevin
Weiss, who was a Quality Leader and Master Black Belt for General
Electric when that company first implemented Six Sigma —
a program CEO Jack Welch has attributed with "changing the
DNA of GE". With a proprietary Cost-Quality-GrowthTM Model
based on the knowledge that GE’s success was due to much
more than a typical Six Sigma deployment, TCG has helped shape
Cost-Quality-GrowthTM Programs for companies such as Shimano,
American Express and Sony.
Along the
journey to the Capable Organization, PCA and TCG provide a comprehensive
set of training programs and materials as well as consulting and
assessment services to accelerate progress. Products and services
range from courses and CDs geared towards the education of hourly
workers to intensive seminars for managers and executive teams.
For more information,
contact Chris Johansen of Philip Crosby Associates and The Capability
Group: 800-722-1474 or info@philipcrosby.com.
