Passing of Dr. Joseph Juran: a "Giant of our Time"

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April 2008

By Ian Hannah
SQMC Director of Programmes

It was with great regret that I learned that the pioneering architect of the science of managing for quality of the twentieth century, Dr Joseph M. Juran, passed away on February 28 at the age of 103. He will be greatly missed by the ‘Quality fraternity’.

‘Joe’ to his friends, he was known as the "father" of quality. He was quoted as saying: "It is most important that top management be quality-minded. In the absence of sincere manifestation of interest at the top, little will happen below." Straightforward, to the point, that was Juran. His legacy lives on.

I had the pleasure of speaking with him one evening in London 25 years ago, as we walked back to the hotel together from the Conference Centre where he had held a huge audience spellbound with his presentation. Among the gems of wisdom he ‘bestowed’ to a newly established Lecturer in Quality Management was the edict: “Remember you have to be ‘bi-lingual’ when trying to sell ‘Quality’ to companies, that is you have to talk ‘part numbers’ on the shop floor, and ‘dollars’ to senior management!” How right he was!

In 1937, Juran articulated the Pareto Principle, which millions of managers rely on to help separate the "vital few" from the "useful many" in their activities.
In 1951 his Quality Control Handbook (McGraw-Hill, revised 1988), the first standard reference work on quality management, was published. In 1964 his classic Managerial Breakthrough (McGraw-Hill, revised 1994) presented a more general theory of quality management. It was the second ‘Quality’ book I ever bought (the first was “Total Quality Control” by A.V.Feigenbaum) and it described a step-by-step sequence for breakthrough improvement. This process has evolved into lean and Six Sigma and is the basis for quality initiatives worldwide.
 
The Juran Trilogy, published in 1986, defined three management processes required by all organizations to improve. Quality control, quality improvement, and quality planning have become synonymous with Juran.

"My job of contributing to the welfare of my fellow man," wrote Juran, "is the great unfinished business." What a fitting epitaph to a ‘giant’ of our time.