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

- Show: [Let's Combinate](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate)
- Published: 2024-06-19
- Length: 23m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-06-19-141-lessons-from-the-life-and-legacy-of-quality-guru-h-james-harrington-1929-202
- Listen: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letscombinate/episodes/141---Lessons-from-the-Life-and-Legacy-of-Quality-Guru-H--James-Harrington-1929-2024-e2kuhpq

## Summary

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.

## Chapters

- [0:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-06-19-141-lessons-from-the-life-and-legacy-of-quality-guru-h-james-harrington-1929-202#t=1) Introduction: Subhi Saadeh and Dr. H. James Harrington
- [2:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-06-19-141-lessons-from-the-life-and-legacy-of-quality-guru-h-james-harrington-1929-202#t=162) Harrington's Career at IBM and Entry into Quality
- [4:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-06-19-141-lessons-from-the-life-and-legacy-of-quality-guru-h-james-harrington-1929-202#t=263) Lesson 2: The Cost of Poor Quality vs. Cost of Quality
- [5:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-06-19-141-lessons-from-the-life-and-legacy-of-quality-guru-h-james-harrington-1929-202#t=319) Lesson 3: History of Quality Movements (Ford, Shewhart, Deming, Ishikawa)
- [12:32](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-06-19-141-lessons-from-the-life-and-legacy-of-quality-guru-h-james-harrington-1929-202#t=752) Rewards, Recognition, and Key Performance Indicators
- [14:52](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-06-19-141-lessons-from-the-life-and-legacy-of-quality-guru-h-james-harrington-1929-202#t=892) Lesson 4: White Collar Poor Quality and Business Process Improvement
- [18:39](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-06-19-141-lessons-from-the-life-and-legacy-of-quality-guru-h-james-harrington-1929-202#t=1119) Lesson 5: Aging, Recall, and Hobbies
- [21:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-06-19-141-lessons-from-the-life-and-legacy-of-quality-guru-h-james-harrington-1929-202#t=1276) Harrington's Early Life and Family Influence on Quality

## Topics

- [Quality & yield](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/quality-and-yield)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

established companies

## Mentioned

- IBM (company)
- Ernst & Young (company)
- ASQ (other)
- Harrington Management systems (company)
- The Cost of Poor Quality (other)
- Mastery (other)
- Quality is Free (other)

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- [267: How Meaningful Work, Optimism, and Relationships Drive Manufacturing Excellence, An Interview with Kathy Miller, Author of MORE is Better](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2025-12-23-267-how-meaningful-work-optimism-and-relationships-drive-manufacturing-excellenc) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
- [#352: Fundamentals of Quality & Regulatory](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2024-01-18-352-fundamentals-of-quality-regulatory) (Global Medical Device Podcast)
- [The Brightest Generation: New Leadership in Manufacturing w/ Paul Brauss](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2021-03-16-the-brightest-generation-new-leadership-in-manufacturing-w-paul-brauss) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [S7E29 Heylands Lowry| Building an Engineering Culture of Continuous Improvement](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2026-07-10-s7e29-heylands-lowry-building-an-engineering-culture-of-continuous-improvement) (Being an Engineer)

## Citing this page

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