Statistical Process Control

Quality Planning is a key feature of TQM is the prevention of non-conformance. Two of the pioneers of TQM, Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, strongly advocated the use of statistical methods to achieve this. As young men, both Deming and Juran had worked at Western Electric Corp under Dr Walter A. Shewhart who is credited with the original development of statistical process control (SPC) methods, in the 1920s. 

"The triumph of statistics is the triumph of Dr. Deming. When others have wavered or been lukewarm in their support for statistics, Dr. Deming has stood firm in his conviction that statistics is the heart of quality control. Indeed, he goes further and makes statistical principles central to the whole production process".