Ever since I read this one, I have been wondering what the Cove members may think of the views expressed about 'Quality Gurus' - This is straight out of "World Class Quality" by Keki Bhote (1988):

"... Dorian Shainin is one of the 'gurus' of quality on the American scene. Among the others, Phil Crosby is a showman, useful for companies in the dark ages of quality. Juran is superb for general management. Deming now concentrates on twisting top management's tail. Shainin alone is a consummate "tool" man - the master problem solver...."

All this time later, is anyone interested in commenting?

All this time later, is anyone interested in commenting?No comment, but people unfamiliar with Dorian may be interested in reading a brief biography on the ASQ site ***DEAD ASQ LINK REMOVED***

The link is a good summary.

I do not know Shainin too much, but I notice that Shainin is a founder of a DOE tool, so-called “Shainin Method” which preferred by VW and Bosch. But I do not know too much about it, can someone here have some material to share. Any help will be appreciated.

Frankly,

ALL the Guru's had something to offer and a piece of the whole pie. None addressed all issues or covered the gamut.

Dorian Shanin lived about 10 minutes from me prior to his death, and I was fortunate to spend a week locked in a conference room with him working on a problem resolution about 8 years ago.

I'll only comment on Shanin here. . . he DOES have a basketful of statistical engineering tools. They do work well but have their limitations also. He is the practical tool man of the bunch.

All had something to offer and I think a lot of it was salesmanship, good ole fashion consumerism, among other things. One question I would ask and it may be another thread is "What makes a quality guru?" Maybe a job description.

There was at least one other thread where Q "gurus" were discussed and I think Atul participated.

I know little of Shainin. I would guess that Shainin was not as much of a marketer as the others because I think he has the least name recognition.

Shanin was the $1500/day plus 1st class accommodations and travel roll-the-sleeves-up guy of the bunch. His work was of a more practical down-to-Earth nature as I see it. He was a crusty old dude who had little time for rhetoric and salesmanship. . . and little patience . . . possible why he is not as well known as others.

Though I was not a big proponent of his many years ago, I have used and seen his tools in use, and they do work if studied and understood. I would recommend anyone studying his techniques.

I worked a problem at a customer about 5 years ago using the 8D methodology. A team of Shanin masters was set on the same problem and came to the same conclusions I did. It took me two weeks, it took them 3 days.