Shainin & Others - Views expressed about 'Quality Gurus'

[Atul Khandekar]

Shainin & Others... Views expressed about 'Quality Gurus'

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...."

 

[Marc]

All this time later, is anyone interested in commenting?

 

[Wes Bucey]

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***

 

[Marc]

The link is a good summary.

 

[Jaco]

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.

 

[The Taz!]

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.

 

[gpainter]

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.

 

[Mike S.]

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.

 

[The Taz!]

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.