Google一下 'British Deming Association' ，資料多是片斷的。不過卻找到英國報紙Independent 在1994年元月給Deming博士的訃聞:它給 Dr. W. Edwards Deming 在英國BDA年會的400名聽眾的一番介紹: 自費到英國，抱病做免費演講......。
Obituary: W. Edwards Deming
William Edwards Deming, statistician: born Sioux City, Iowa 14 October
1900; Special Lecturer in Mathematics and Statistics, Graduate School,
National Bureau of Standards 1930-46; Head of Department of Mathematics
and Statistics, Graduate School of USDA 1933-53; Consultant to the
Census of Mexico 1954-55; Consultant to Central Statistical Office of
Turkey 1959-62; Professor Emeritus, New York University 1975; National
Medal of Technology 1987; married 1923 Agnes Bell (died 1930; one
adopted daughter deceased), 1932 Lola Shupe (died 1986; two daughters);
died Washington DC 20 December 1993.
IN APRIL 1992 an extraordinary statistician, then in his 91st year,
gripped my arm as I helped him walk to the stage of a Birmingham
conference centre. W. Edwards Deming was the keynote speaker for a
conference on quality management. His audience were senior managers,
directors and chief executives from all over the UK and a sprinkling
from Europe - barely 400 in all.
With his assistant on his other arm we struggled to help him climb
the three steps to the stage which he eventually managed with a joke
about British steps being higher. We settled him, frail with age and
illness, on the platform, adjusted his microphone and gave him his iced
water and tablets.
Moments later he rose carefully to his feet, looked challengingly at
his audience and, in a low, powerful growling voice, said, 'I'm probably
the only person in this room who was alive in the reign of Queen
Victoria.'
For the next hour and a half he spoke with incisiveness and vigour,
sharing his unparalleled knowledge with his audience. He had spent over
60 years developing a management philosophy of great insight and power
and he wanted us to understand it. 'Ed' Deming could have commanded huge
fees on the conference circuits of the world if he had wished. What
other nonagenarian would fly to Britain from the United States despite
illness and frailty, speak at a conference, charge no fee, and pay his
own airfare? The occasion was the annual conference of the non-profit-
making British Deming Association. It was Deming's last appearance in
Britain before his death.
Deming will be remembered particularly for his enormous influence on
the post-war industrial and economic miracle in Japan - a country where
he is greatly revered. His portrait hangs in pride of place at the
headquarters of Toyota, in Tokyo. The award of the Deming prize for
quality achievements is prime-time television in Japan. Deming was
decorated by the Emperor of Japan in 1960 with the Second Order of the
Sacred Treasure. Despite the success of his work in Japan, he remained
virtually unknown in the United States and Britain until the early
Eighties when a US television documentary on the revival of Japanese
industry showed how much Japanese success was based on the teachings of
Deming. Documentaries about his work have been broadcast in Britain by
both ITV, in 1988, and the BBC, in 1992.
Considered one of the most influential management theorists in the
modern world, Deming based his concepts on a strong systemic approach
and a statistician's understanding of the real meaning of data -
particularly variation in data. He also had great understanding of the
value of people and was deeply concerned by the waste resulting from
treating people like commodities.
For decades Deming explained that if you improve quality at source
then productivity will rise, giving both higher quality and lower costs.
He advocated ridding workplaces of fear and competition and replacing
them with teamwork and co-operation. He was talking about customer care
and continual improvement over 40 years ago whereas the rest of us did
not grasp the importance of these concepts until comparatively recently.
I first met him at a four-day seminar he was giving in Florida a few
years ago. He gave hundreds of these seminars in the last dozen years or
so including several in Britain. They were extraordinary affairs where
initial cynicism was gradually replaced by understanding and even
excitement as the days progressed. The standing ovations from five to
six hundred managers at the end of the four days were often very
emotional. Deming was a consultant to many large US companies including
Ford and General Motors, the former in particular an important influence
in rescuing the company from near disaster in the early Eighties.
Over the last few years I was privileged to spend time with Deming in
the United States, Europe and Britain. One of the most memorable
occasions was almost exactly a year ago when my wife and I visited him
in his modest house in Butterworth Place, Washington DC. We learnt of
his lifelong love of music, of cats and of fresh tomatoes. We saw his
study and office in the basement of his home.
His entire operation was controlled from there by his secretary of
nearly 40 years, Cecilia Kilian, who took dictation by telephone from
all corners of the world as Deming continued writing his books on
aeroplanes, in airports and in hotels. He told amusing stories and his
face lit up with laughter.
Deming was an extraordinary man, with an extraordinary life, but,
much more importantly, an extraordinary legacy. Japan is a special case
but in Britain and the United States in particular he has left a legacy
of knowledge which is capable of transforming our industries and our
societies.
Many hundreds of men and women in Britain are committed to developing
and spreading his teachings and applying them in all walks of life.
Deming was Honorary President of the British Deming Association and gave
great personal help and guidance to me and my
colleagues.
中国国资委研究员罗天昊：中国在GDP统计中忽略了很多因素。
