Joseph Moses Juran (December 24, 1904 – February 28, 2008) was a Romanian-born American engineer and management consultant. He was an evangelist for
quality
Quality may refer to:
Concepts
*Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something
*Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property
*Quality (physics), in response theory
*Energy quality, used in various science discipli ...
and
quality management
Quality management ensures that an organization, product or service consistently functions well. It has four main components: quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement. Quality management is focused not only ...
, having written several books on those subjects. He was the brother of
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
winner
Nathan Juran
Naftuli Hertz "Nathan" Juran (September 1, 1907 – October 23, 2002) was a Romanian film art director, and later film and television director. As an art director, he won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1942 for ''How Green Was My Valley'', ...
.
Early life
Juran was born in
Brăila
Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila.
According to the 2011 Romanian census there were 180,302 pe ...
, Romania, one of six children born to Jakob and Gitel Juran; they later lived in
Gura Humorului
Gura Humorului (; Hebrew and Yiddish: גורה חומורולוי - ''Gure Humuruluei'' or גורא הומאָרא - ''Gura Humora''; German and Polish: ''Gura Humora'') is a town in Suceava County, northeastern Romania. It is situated in the his ...
. His family was Jewish and as part of the Jewish community were subjects of oppression by the authorities as well as their gentile neighbors. Because of the injustice the family has experienced they decided to leave to the USA: first his father - in 1909, and then the rest of them in 1912. As turns out it was hard but very smart and even fateful decision – during the WW2 most of Jews of Gura Humorului were rounded up, shipped to the concentration camp where significant part of them if not most of them, perished. He had three sisters: Rebecca (nicknamed Betty), Minerva, who earned a doctoral degree and had a career in education, and Charlotte. He had two brothers: film and art director
Nathan Juran
Naftuli Hertz "Nathan" Juran (September 1, 1907 – October 23, 2002) was a Romanian film art director, and later film and television director. As an art director, he won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1942 for ''How Green Was My Valley'', ...
, and Rudolph, known as Rudy. Rudy founded a municipal bond company.
In 1912, Joseph Juran emigrated to
America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
with his family, settling in
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
. He excelled in school, especially in
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
. He was a
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
champion at an early age,
and dominated chess at
Western Electric
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
. Juran attended
Minneapolis South High School
Minneapolis South High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Corcoran neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A member of the Minneapolis Public Schools district, it is both the oldest and largest public high sc ...
where he graduated in 1920.
In 1924, with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
, Juran joined Western Electric's
Hawthorne Works
The Hawthorne Works was a large factory complex of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois. Named after the original name of the town, Hawthorne, it opened in 1905 and operated until 1983. At its peak of operations, Hawthorne employed 4 ...
. His first job was
troubleshooting
Troubleshooting is a form of problem solving, often applied to repair failed products or processes on a machine or a system. It is a logical, systematic search for the source of a problem in order to solve it, and make the product or process ope ...
in the Complaint Department.
[ In 1925, ]Bell Labs
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
proposed that Hawthorne Works personnel be trained in its newly developed statistical sampling
In statistics, quality assurance, and survey methodology, sampling is the selection of a subset (a statistical sample) of individuals from within a statistical population to estimate characteristics of the whole population. Statisticians attem ...
and control chart
Control charts is a graph used in production control to determine whether quality and manufacturing processes are being controlled under stable conditions. (ISO 7870-1)
The hourly status is arranged on the graph, and the occurrence of abnormalit ...
techniques. Juran was chosen to join the Inspection Statistical Department, a small group of engineers charged with applying and disseminating Bell Labs' statistical quality control
Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements".
This approach places ...
innovations. This highly visible position fueled Juran's rapid ascent in the organization and the course of his later career.[
]
Personal life
In 1926, he married Sadie Shapiro. Joseph and Sadie met in 1924 when his sister Betty moved to Chicago, and Sadie and he met her train; in his autobiography, he wrote of meeting Sadie, "There and then I was smitten and have remained so ever since." They were engaged in 1925, on Joseph's 21st birthday. Fifteen months later, they were married. They had been married for nearly 82 years when he died in 2008.
Joseph and Sadie raised four children (three sons and a daughter): Robert, Sylvia, Charles, and Donald. Robert was an award-winning newspaper editor, and Sylvia earned a doctorate in Russian literature.
Department chief
Juran was promoted to department chief in 1928, and the following year became a division chief. He published his first quality-related article in ''Mechanical Engineering'' in 1935. In 1937, he moved to Western Electric/AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
's headquarters in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he held the position of Chief Industrial Engineer.
As a hedge against the uncertainties of the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, he enrolled in Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Loyola University Chicago School of Law is the law school of Loyola University Chicago, in Illinois. Established in 1909, by the Society of Jesus, the Roman Catholic order of the Jesuits, the School of Law is located in downtown Chicago. Loyol ...
in 1931. He graduated in 1935 and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1936, though he never practiced law.[
During the Second World War, through an arrangement with his employer, Juran served in the ]Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
Administration and Foreign Economic Administration In the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Foreign Economic Administration (FEA) was formed to relieve friction between US agencies operating abroad on September 25, 1943.
As described by the biographer of the FEA's chief, Leo Crowley ...
. Just before the war's end, he resigned from Western Electric and his government post, intending to become a freelance consultant.[
He soon joined the faculty of ]New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
as an adjunct professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...
, where he taught courses in quality control and ran round table
The Round Table ( cy, y Ford Gron; kw, an Moos Krenn; br, an Daol Grenn; la, Mensa Rotunda) is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that e ...
seminars for executives. He also worked via a small management consulting
Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...
firm on projects for Gilette
Gilette (; oc, Gileta; it, Giletta) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.
Population
The inhabitants are called ''Gilettois''.
See also
*Communes of the Alpes-Maritimes department
The following is a ...
, Hamilton Watch Company
The Hamilton Watch Company is a Swiss manufacturer of wristwatches based in Bienne, Switzerland. Founded in 1892 as an American firm, the Hamilton Watch Company ended American manufacture in 1969. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, t ...
and Borg-Warner
BorgWarner Inc. is an American automotive supplier headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The company maintains production facilities and technical systems at 93 sites (as of June 6, 2022) in 22 countries worldwide and has around 49,000 employ ...
. After the firm's owner's sudden death, Juran began his own independent practice, from which he made a comfortable living until his retirement in the late 1990s. His early clients included the now defunct Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Company, the Koppers
Koppers is a global chemical and materials company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States in an art-deco 1920s skyscraper, the Koppers Tower.
Structure
Koppers is an integrated global producer of carbon compounds, chemicals, and trea ...
Company, the International Latex Company, Bausch & Lomb
Bausch + Lomb is an eye health products company based in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the world's largest suppliers of contact lenses, lens care products, pharmaceuticals, intraocular lenses, and other eye surgery products. The compan ...
and General Foods
General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895.
The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...
.
Japan
The end of World War II compelled Japan to change its focus from becoming a military power to becoming an economic one. Despite Japan's ability to compete on price, its consumer goods manufacturers suffered from a long-established reputation of poor quality. The first edition of Juran's ''Quality Control Handbook'' in 1951 attracted the attention of the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers
The Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) ( ja, 日本科学技術連盟), was established in May 1946 by the Science and Technology Agency (now known as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) of the Govern ...
(JUSE), which invited him to Japan in 1952. When he finally arrived in Japan in 1954, Juran met with executives from ten manufacturing companies, notably Showa Denko
, founded in 1939 by the merger of Nihon Electrical Industries and Showa Fertilizers, both established by a Japanese entrepreneur Nobuteru Mori, is a Japanese chemical company producing chemical products and industrial materials.
SDK's products ...
, Nippon Kōgaku
(, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and Photography, imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group.
Nikon's products include cam ...
, Noritake
, commonly known as "Noritake," is a tableware and technology company headquartered in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
History
In 1876, Ichizaemon Morimura VI and his brother Toyo founded Morimura Gumi with the intent of establishing overs ...
, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company
The is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company, with partial American and British roots. It is the largest pharmaceutical company in Asia and one of the top 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue (top 10 followin ...
.[ He also lectured at ]Hakone
is a town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 11,293 and a population density of 122 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The town is a popular tourist destination due to its many hot springs and views of ...
, Waseda University
, abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902.
The university has numerou ...
, Ōsaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 ...
, and Kōyasan. During his life, he made ten visits to Japan, the last in 1990.
Working independently of W. Edwards Deming
William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American engineer, statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and management consultant. Educated initially as an electrical engineer and later specializing in mathematical ...
(who focused on the use of statistical process control
Statistical process control (SPC) or statistical quality control (SQC) is the application of statistical methods to monitor and control the quality of a production process. This helps to ensure that the process operates efficiently, producing m ...
), Juran—who focused on managing for quality—went to Japan and started courses (1954) in quality management. The training began with top and middle management. The idea that top and middle management Middle management is the intermediate management level of a hierarchical organization that is subordinate to the executive management and responsible for ‘team leading’ line managers and/or ‘specialist’ line managers. Middle management is i ...
needed training had found resistance in the United States. For Japan, it would take some 20 years for the training to pay off. In the 1970s, Japanese products began to be seen as the leaders in quality. This sparked a crisis in the United States due to quality issues in the 1980s.
Contributions
Pareto principle
In 1941, Juran came across the work of Vilfredo Pareto
Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto ( , , , ; born Wilfried Fritz Pareto; 15 July 1848 – 19 August 1923) was an Italian polymath (civil engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist, and philosopher). He made several important contribut ...
and began to apply the Pareto principle
The Pareto principle states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes (the "vital few"). Other names for this principle are the 80/20 rule, the law of the vital few, or the principle of factor sparsity.
Manage ...
to quality issues (for example, 80% of a problem is caused by 20% of the causes). This is also known as "the vital few and the trivial many." In later years, Juran preferred "the vital few and the useful many" to signal that the remaining 80% of the causes should not be totally ignored.
Management theory
When he began his career in the 1920s, the principal focus in quality management was on the quality of the end, or finished, product. The tools used were from the Bell system of acceptance sampling Acceptance sampling uses statistical sampling to determine whether to accept or reject a production lot of material. It has been a common quality control technique used in industry.
It is usually done as products leave the factory, or in some c ...
, inspection plans, and control charts. The ideas of Frederick Winslow Taylor
Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. In 1909, Taylor summed up hi ...
dominated.
Juran is widely credited for adding the human dimension to quality management. He pushed for the education and training of managers. For Juran, human relations problems were the ones to isolate, and resistance to change
Change management (sometimes abbreviated as CM) is a collective term for all approaches to prepare, support, and help individuals, teams, and organizations in making organizational change. It includes methods that redirect or redefine the use of ...
was the root cause of quality issues. Juran credits Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s.
She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Co ...
's book ''Cultural Patterns and Technical Change'' for illuminating the core problem in reforming business quality.[ His book ''Managerial Breakthrough'', published in 1964, outlined the issue.
Juran's concept of quality management extended outside the walls of the factory to encompass nonmanufacturing processes, especially those that might be thought of as service related. For example, in an interview published in 1997] he observed:
The Juran trilogy
Juran was one of the first to write about the cost of poor quality
Cost of poor quality (COPQ) or poor quality costs (PQC), are costs that would disappear if systems, processes, and products were perfect.
COPQ was popularized by IBM quality expert H. James Harrington in his 1987 book ''Poor Quality Costs''.
COP ...
. This was illustrated by his "Juran trilogy," an approach to cross-functional management, which is composed of three managerial processes: quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement. Without change, there will be a constant waste; during change there will be increased costs, but after the improvement, margins will be higher and the increased costs are recouped.
Transferring quality knowledge between East and West
During his 1966 visit to Japan, Juran learned about the Japanese concept of quality circles
A quality circle or quality control circle is a group of workers who do the same or similar work, who meet regularly to identify, analyze and solve work-related problems. It consists of minimum three and maximum twelve members in number. Normally ...
, which he enthusiastically evangelized in the West.
He also acted as a matchmaker between U.S. and Japanese companies looking for introductions to each other.[
]
Juran Institute
Juran founded the Juran Institute in 1979. The Institute is an international training, certification, and consulting company that provides training and consulting services in quality management, Lean Six Sigma management and business process management
Business process management (BPM) is the discipline in which people use various methods to discover, model, analyze, measure, improve, optimize, and automate business processes. Any combination of methods used to manage a company's business pro ...
, as well as Six Sigma certification. The institute is based in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Their mission statement is to "Create a global community of practice to empower organizations and people to push beyond their limits."
Retirement
Juran was active well into his 80s, and gave up international travel only at age 86. He retired at age 90 but still gave interviews. His activities during the second half of his life include:
*Consulting for U.S. companies such as Armour and Company
Armour & Company was an American company and was one of the five leading firms in the meat packing industry. It was founded in Chicago, in 1867, by the Armour brothers led by Philip Danforth Armour. By 1880, the company had become Chicago's most ...
, Dennison Manufacturing Company
Avery Dennison Corporation is a multinational manufacturer and distributor of pressure-sensitive adhesive materials (such as self-adhesive labels), apparel branding labels and tags, RFID inlays, and specialty medical products. The company is a ...
, Merck, Sharp & Dohme, Otis Elevator Company
Otis Worldwide Corporation (trade name, branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment.
Based in Farming ...
, Xerox
Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...
, and the United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
Fleet Ballistic Missile System.,[ Steve Jobs.
*Consulting for Western European and Japanese companies such as ]Rolls-Royce Motors
Rolls-Royce Motors was a British luxury car manufacturer, created in 1973 during the de-merger of the Rolls-Royce automotive business from the nationalised Rolls-Royce Limited. It produced luxury cars under the Rolls-Royce and Bentley brands. ...
, Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
, Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
, Royal Dutch Shell
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
, and Toyota Motor Company
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
.[
*''Pro bono'' consulting for Soviet-bloc countries (Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Poland, and Yugoslavia).][
*Founding the Juran Institute][ and the Juran Foundation.][
]
Later life and death
Juran began writing his memoirs at 92. They were published two months before he celebrated his 99th birthday. He gave two interviews at 94 and 97.
In 2004, at age 100, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Luleå University of Technology
Luleå University of Technology is a Public Research University in Norrbotten County, Sweden. The university has four campuses located in the Arctic Region in the cities of Luleå, Kiruna, Skellefteå, and Piteå.
With more than 19,000 students a ...
in Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. A special event was held in May to mark his 100th birthday.
Sadie and he celebrated their 81st wedding anniversary in June 2007. They were both 102 at the time. Juran died of a stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
on 28 February 2008, at age 103, in Rye, New York
Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...
. He was active on his 103rd birthday and was caring for himself and Sadie, who was in poor health, when he died. Sadie died on 2 December 2008, at age 103. They were survived by their four children, ten grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren. Juran left a book that was 37% complete, which he began at age 98.
See also
* Quality by Design
Bibliography
Juran cites the following as his most influential works:[
]
Books
:*
::Eventually published in seven editions:
2nd edition, 1962
3rd edition, 1974
4th edition, 1988
5th edition, 1999
6th edition, 2010
7th edition, 2017
:*
:*
:*
:*
:*
:* Architect of Quality: The Autobiography of Dr. Joseph M. Juran” ISBN 0-07-142610-8
Published papers
:*
:*
:*
:*
:*
:*
:*
:*
:*
:*
:*
:*
In Japanese
:*
::a collection of Juran's 1954 lectures[
:*''Lectures in Quality Control'', 1956
:*''Lectures in General Management'', 1960
]
References
External links
The Juran Institute's official web site
ASQ Juran page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Juran, Joseph M.
1904 births
2008 deaths
Romanian Jews
American business theorists
American centenarians
Men centenarians
American industrial engineers
American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
American statisticians
Loyola University Chicago School of Law alumni
National Medal of Technology recipients
New York University faculty
People from Brăila
Businesspeople from Minneapolis
People from Ridgefield, Connecticut
Quality experts
Romanian emigrants to the United States
Romanian statisticians
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni
Engineers from Connecticut
20th-century American businesspeople
South High School (Minnesota) alumni