October 19, 2005

Purdue to be home to conference exploring Deming philosophy

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Experts, students and business people from around the country will gather at Purdue to learn about the philosophy of one of the developers of the Total Quality Management business philosophy.

The 2005 W. Edwards Deming Institute Fall Conference will be held at Purdue from Oct. 21-23. The conference is sponsored by the W. Edwards Deming Institute.

Deming, born in 1900, worked extensively as a consultant for Japanese businesses after World War II, during the time of rapid growth in Japan's business and industrial sector. While there, he taught his strategy that improving quality will reduce expenses while increasing productivity and market share. Japanese executives instituted his theories – which were the beginning of today's Total Quality Management – to grow their businesses at unprecedented rates.

His strategy was later developed into the total quality control model, which has been adopted by companies in the United States and throughout the world.

The theme of this year's conference is "Future Vision — What do we leave behind?"

"The focus of the conference at Purdue will be to explore types of practices – both business and professional – which need to be examined in order to continue Deming's vision," said William Krug, professor and interim head of the Department of Organizational Leadership and Supervision, which is playing host to the conference. "Those practices may include bad habits and systems that need to be stopped or modified, or positive practices that should be adopted and cultivated."

The conference will feature three tracks to focus on different aspects of business: metrics and processes, leadership and management, and opportunities and practices.

Writer: Matt Holsapple, (765) 494-2073, mholsapple@purdue.edu

Source: William Krug, (765) 494-5614, krugw@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

To the News Service home page