Feigenbaum's Enduring Influence
- Publication:
- Quality Progress
- Date:
- November 2005
- Issue:
- Volume 38 Issue 11
- Pages:
- pp. 51-55
- Author(s):
- Watson, Gregory
- Organization(s):
- Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Abstract
Armand V. Feigenbaum was one of the first engineers to recognize financial performance as an indicator of poor quality. Together with W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, he established the intellectual framework for quality as a discipline worthy of upper management's attention. Feigenbaum's total quality control concept, known today as total quality management (TQM), is a foundation of modern management and is widely accepted in all economic sectors. TQM is a way of stressing that quality, as defined by the customer, results from the integration of cross-functional workflows throughout an organization. The systems approach to quality has been a consistent theme in all of Feigenbaum's contributions. A sidebar article provides highlights of Feigenbaum's career.