Title: Architect of quality
First published: 2004
Description: "No one in the last hundred years has had more influence on the worldwide practice of quality in business than Dr. Joseph Juran. His work is the foundation for much of the quality movement of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries - everything from Total Quality Management to Six Sigma. The teachings and writings of Dr. Juran have had a profound impact on the products we use every day, and his books are considered fundamental references by quality professionals." "In this autobiography, Juran retraces his inspiring life journey - from an impoverished, tragic childhood in a tar-papered shack to his career as the revered man who helped invent and champion quality management systems, quality tools, and teams long before they became standard practice.^

Architect of Quality delves deep into Juran's motivations, sharing for the first time how the early hardships he faced and his relentless, aggressive spirit shaped his character and fueled his determination to succeed." "Born in Braila, Romania, in 1904, Juran left his native country as a child with his impoverished family for the Land of Opportunity, settling in Minneapolis. During the Depression his shoemaker father took up bootlegging, while Juran worked for the Minnesota State Prohibition Committee. After Juran's mother died, his family fell apart, leaving his sisters in an orphanage.^

Young Juran moved with his father to the Minneapolis red light district and lived among "the bums." Somehow, despite these abject beginnings, Juran became the first in his family to earn a college degree - and went on to achieve more than he could have ever dreamed possible." "Juran describes his rapid success and dramatic failure in his early years at Western Electric's famed Hawthorne plant, relives his experiences working on the war effort in Washington, D.C. in the 1940s, and reveals how he developed the core ideas behind the quality movement. He also helped advise postwar Japan - which would subsequently become the world quality leader and an economic superpower - on how to rebuild itself. As the world revolution in managing for quality accelerated, Juran contributed extensively to that revolution - and cemented his role as the world's seminal leader of the quality movement."--BOOK JACKET.
Subjects: Quality control, Quality assurance, Biography, Industrial engineers
Places: United States, Japan
People: J. M. Juran (1904-), J. M. Juran (1904-2008)