It is worth noting that no effort is being made here to suggest that one man, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, was responsible for all of the success enjoyed by Japan from 1950 through the 1980s, and certainly Dr. Deming never made such a suggestion himself.
It is true, however, that without Dr. Deming’s breakthrough methods Japan would not have accomplished its transformation in manufacturing design, education, and quality as rapidly as it did, and perhaps not even by today. Enjoying the wide selection of quality electronics, automotive and other products that we do today it would be easy to forget that most of those changes, in Japan, the United States, and abroad, can be directly traced to Dr. Deming’s methods.
The incredible dedication of the Japanese culture is well known. Although, as is the case with many countries, Japan continues to become increasingly westernized, during its period of economic transformation the model of the Japanese workforce was almost unparalleled. It was generally considered that companies offered lifetime employment and security to their employees, and employees gave their all in return. Perhaps more so than any other modern country the work ethic in Japan and the dedication of Japanese employees to their work was almost total.
However, it is well known that hard work and even a good work ethic and attention to detail and quality isn’t necessarily enough to bring about innovation or superior results. Many of our forefathers worked far harder under harsher conditions than we do today, yet enjoyed a standard of living that was considerably lower than that we now enjoy.
A wonderful story illustrates the above point. As a lumberjack was walking through the forest one day he came across a man cutting down trees. The man was working at a furious pace but progress was extremely slow and he had only succeeded in cutting down a very few trees. The experienced lumberjack immediately knew the man’s saw was dull. He told the man that if he would sharpen his saw it would cut through the trees much faster. However, as the man continued to furiously saw away at a tree he said: “I can’t take the time to stop because I have all of these trees to cut down!”
Prior to Dr. Deming’s breakthrough methods the Japanese were already among the hardest working and most dedicated people in the World. Despite that, they were still associated with cheap electronics and other goods; and Japan wasn’t even on the map in regard to the World automotive market. Likewise, in the United States auto manufacturers and droves of factory workers continuously cranked out cars that, with the exception of a few models, were boxy, not very high on the quality scale, and that got poor gas mileage. That era has been well studied and researched and virtually all agree that U.S. automakers enjoyed the large market share that they did at the time not because they were manufacturing innovative vehicles that were high in quality, but simply because it had always been done that way and there were no other comparisons or competitors. It was largely a captive market.
Not only did Dr. Deming’s methods transform the way that people in Japan designed and manufactured products, but the resulting competition caused the United States and other World markets to do the same. Few disagree that had it not been for the fierce competition from Japan, the U.S. electronics and auto markets would have continued for years to produce similar products.
So, without Dr. Deming Japan certainly would have continued to make progress, as would the rest of the World. But like the man trying to saw trees with a dull saw, without Dr. Deming’s methods, the transformation to a World that enjoys the level of innovation and quality that we do today would not have come about for many more years, if not decades.