From: gadfly@cbnewsi.cb.att.com (Gadfly)
Subject: Re: The Baldridge award (was "AT&T Universal Card (tm? by AT&T)")
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 22:38:19 GMT
Summary: Say what?
Keywords: AT&T UNIVERSAL CREDIT CARD VISA

In article <45YE03kPb8uL00@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>, jsp@uts.amdahl.com
(James Preston) quotes me:
> }> U.S. companies
> }> are _already_ in a competition with the rest of the world.  Why
> }> hasn't that been sufficient to spur them on to higher levels of
> }> quality?
 
> }Because they didn't understand the concept.  Because American
> }management's fixation with quarterly profits destroys any
> }consistent effort for the long term.  Because until recently
> }American industry dominated the world and never had to deal
> }with serious competition, and so its organizational principles
> }are the very antithesis of what is needed for quality...
 
> I hope you didn't intend it this way, but the above sure sounds like
> an apologist for American companies.

What???  I state some of the biggest problems with American business
today, and you take it to be an *apology*???  Those are the
facts--those are what have to get fixed in order to produce quality
products and services.  Should they have attended to it decades ago?
Sure.  Did they have sufficient incentive--in the purest capitalist
tradition--to do so?  No.  Do they have the incentive yet?  God I
hope so.  Do they know what to do?  A few do; most don't.  Yet.

> }If not, well, how would *you* do it?
 
> I knew that the award came out of Congress.  I was remarking on how
> sad it is that U.S. businesses are so short-sighted that our government
> felt it necessary to create this award in order to give companies a REASON
> to improve their quality; it's sad that competition with the rest of the
> world STILL isn't sufficient reason for those who run our companies to
> get off their fat butts and start competing.  How would I do it?  I have
> answered that already:  I would not have created this incentive in terms
> of a prize that companies can choose to "go for".

But as I stated, that's not it's principal purpose, although businesses
can--and some do--misuse it that way.  Its purpose is to be an auditing
tool for process improvement, and on the way to identify role models to
emulate.

>                                             The reward for improving
> quality is more customers, or better satisfied customers, or lower costs
> or better products.

Exactly--which is why we *don't* need the kind of award you describe
below.  Their satisfied customers--and the resulting P&L statements--
are their awards.  Businessfolks know who the stars are.  But they don't
always know why.

>                    That is the message that I would send out.  I would
> have the Baldridge people going out looking for quality, and the first
> place I'd have them start is Japan.

Already been done.  It's called the Deming Prize.  And besides, many
American companies now on the road to quality are very busy benchmarking
Japanese processes.

>                               You know the story of the mule that
> you have to hit on the head with a two-by-four to get its attention before
> it will listen to you?  Well, I think that U.S. companies still aren't
> really paying attention.  Someone needs to really rub their noses in the
> fact that companies in other countries are BETTER.  As long as we still
> blindly hold on to this romantic notion that American business is the
> best, nothing will change.

You're way behind the times.  American companies know that the Japanese
are better--because the Japanese are driving them into bankruptcy.  The
CEO of Xerox tells of his attaining enlightenment--2x4 style--when he
figured out that Japanese makers were *selling* copiers more cheaply
than Xerox could *produce* them.  They embarked on an ambitious quality
improvement program (winning a Baldrige in 1989), and have since regained
their eroded market share and then some.  All the US auto makers have
been to Japan.  Hell, Ford owns 40% of Mazda.

What US companies usually don't know is what the root causes of their
quality woes are and how to fix them.  And as I've stated so many times,
the Baldrige was created to do just that.

               *** ***
Ken Perlow   ***** *****
05 Nov 92   ****** ******   15 Brumaire An CCI
            *****   *****   gadfly@ihspc.att.com <- New address.
             ** ** ** **             ^^^
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