W. Edwards Deming

W. Edwards Deming
Born	(1900-10-14)October 14, 1900 Sioux City, Iowa, USA
Died	December 20, 1993(1993-12-20) (aged 93) Washington DC, USA
Alma mater	University of Wyoming, University of Colorado, Yale University
Scientific career
Fields	Statistician
Influences	Walter A. Shewhart

William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American engineer who improved how companies manage making products. He was a statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and consultant. He is perhaps best known for his work in Japan. Starting in 1950, he taught top Japanese business managers how to improve design, product quality, testing and sales. He taught the importance of using Statistical Process Control (SPC), to manage quality by measuring, or counting, many steps of complex manufacturing and services, in order to reduce the variation in results. This should reduce defects and errors. Deming described periodic monitoring, by repeating the steps of Plan-Do-Check-Act, known as the Deming Cycle.

Early life

Education

He went to triton central highschool. He entered the University of Wyoming at Laramie in 1917 and graduated in 1921. He earned a BSc in electrical engineering. He then went to graduate school. In 1925, he received an M.S. from the University of Colorado. In 1928, he received a Ph.D. from Yale University. Both graduate degrees were in mathematics and mathematical physics.