Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa short Biography James S Rivers BSOP-326-15964 Total Quality Management Professor Kathryn Thomas May 23, 2015 DeVry University Short Biography of Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa Visionary, pioneer are just a few words use to describe Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa; one of the world’s foremost authorities on quality control, as well one of the leaders and gurus of quality management and improvement. Dr. Ishikawa; life began on July 13, 1915 in Tokyo, the oldest in a family of eight he has received many awards and recognitions while promoting the concept of companywide quality control through continued customer service. From his first job, as a naval technical officer, to his work at the Nissan Liquid Fuel Company improving quality was Dr. Ishikawa passion. From his time as an Assistant professor (1949), and later receiving his doctorate from Tokyo University, for philosophy in chemical engineering up to his death in 1989, Dr. Ishikawa believed the process of continuous quality improvement could always be taken one step further. Dr. Ishikawa delivered the first basic quality control course he developed to the Union of Japanese scientists and engineers in 1949. Believing that improving quality did more than transform manufacturing, but the way people thought about work, this lead to the company wide quality control movement between 1955 and 1960 in Japan following a visit from Deming and Juran. In 1969, he became a member of ISO Japan and in 1970; he commenced conducting quality control training seminars. Consultant to Ford Motor Company, Bridgestone Co. Ltd, Komatsu Manufacturing, Ltd., IBM Japan, American Society for Quality Control and thousands of other companies. In 1977, he was honored with the position of ISO Chairman, Japan. He then undertook the Presidency of the Musashi Institute of Technology in 1978. In 1981 he became Executive Member of ISO and published one of his several books; “What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way”.
Dr. Ishikawa over the course of his life had 647 articles published, wrote and published 31 books two which are in English and is famous for the fishbone diagram AKA the Ishikawa diagram. Also Called: Cause–and–Effect Diagram, Ishikawa Diagram.
“The fishbone diagram identifies many possible causes for an effect or problem. It can be used to structure a brainstorming session. It immediately sorts ideas into useful categories.” (ASQ.org) The fishbone diagram is at the core of Total Quality Management studies it help you understand all possible causes of any aspect and therefore enables one to point to the root cause of the issue and intimately enabling bottom-up approach in quality management. In 1972 Dr. Ishikawa received the ASQ’s Eugene L Grant award, which lead to a medal being named after him in 1993 and in 1988 he received the Walter A shewhart medal. Of all Dr. Ishikawa accomplishments one of his most significant accomplishments was achieved with help from JUSE and Nippon Telephone & Graphs, which helped him implement it and successfully demonstrate the possibilities and effect of what he deemed as “leading hand”, could have on quality aspects. It is this very concept which becomes instantly popular and has been adopted by over 50 countries and has forced him to write two extremely popular books on the subject. For Dr. Ishikawa pioneering and ground breaking contribution in the field of Quality control he was honored with several awards, three of the most significant ones being The Nihon Keizai Press Prize, The Industrial Standardization Prize, The Grant Award and the Deming prize. References ASQ. Retrieved 08 23, 2013, from American Society for Quality: http://asq.org/about- asq/who-we-are/bio_ishikawa.html
ASQ. (Fishbone (ishikawa) Diagram). Retrieved 08 23, 2013, from American Society for Quality: http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/cause-analysis-tools/overview/fishbone.html
Kaoru Ishikawa: One Step Further. (2012). Retrieved 07 20, 2013, from SkyMark: http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/ishikawa.asp
Kaoru Ishikawa Management Gurus. (2008). Retrieved 07 20, 2013, from Vector Study: http://www.vectorstudy.com/management_gurus/kaoru_ishikawa.htm
Sakano, K. (2010). Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa. Retrieved 07 22, 2013, from Process Improvement Japan: http://www.process-improvement-japan.com/kaoru-Ishikawa.html