Dr Feigenbaum is the originator of total quality control, an approach to quality and profitability that has profoundly influenced management strategy in the competition for world markets. Amongst other nominations and awards, Dr Feigenbaum has been named an Honorary Member of the American Society for Quality Control, that body's highest honour. He has been named a member of the National Academy of Engineering of the United States. What we're doing with total quality control in the General Systems Company at present, and the focus of the upcoming new edition of my total quality book, is what we call Total Quality 2000. The basic message of this is that quality today has become a central plank of business success, because a company's income comes not from Wall Street but from its customers, from satisfying its customers.
Quality is neither a department, nor a technique nor a philosophy.
It is a fundamental way of managing. Central to this is the recognition that, without quality, your customers, whether industrial or consumer, are simply not going to buy from you. Acceptance of this by business depends on the company and its leadership - and on the business cycle. If you look at companies such as General Electric, Wal-Mart or Union Pacific, you will see that quality has been an indelible characteristic of their leadership from the beginning. Some other firms, however, have demonstrated a dangerous tendency to confuse a strong economy with good quality, which is quite different.