141 - Lessons from the Life and Legacy of Quality Guru H. James Harrington (1929-2024)

Let's Combinate · 19 Jun 2024 · 23m

What this episode covers

Host Subhi Saadeh reflects on the life and legacy of Dr. H. James Harrington, a quality guru who spent 40 years at IBM and later at Ernst & Young, discussing five key lessons from their conversations. Harrington explains the evolution of quality management, from Ford's production lines to Deming and Ishikawa, emphasizing that white-collar poor quality and sub-optimization are major costs. He details his methodology for business process improvement, including defining process owners and using control charts, while highlighting that customer satisfaction, not just cost savings, is the true measure of quality. The episode serves as a tribute to Harrington's contributions to performance improvement and organizational alignment.

Most relevant to

established companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies: IBM, Ernst & Young, Harrington Management systems
Also: ASQ, The Cost of Poor Quality, Mastery, Quality is Free

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141 - Lessons from the Life and Legacy of Quality Guru H. James Harrington (1929-2024)

What this episode covers

Most relevant to

Topics

Mentioned

Related episodes from other shows

#440: ICYMI (In Case You Missed It!) Fundamentals of Quality & Regulatory

267: How Meaningful Work, Optimism, and Relationships Drive Manufacturing Excellence, An Interview with Kathy Miller, Author of MORE is Better

#352: Fundamentals of Quality & Regulatory

The Brightest Generation: New Leadership in Manufacturing w/ Paul Brauss

S7E29 Heylands Lowry| Building an Engineering Culture of Continuous Improvement