The Deming Chain

Deming’s ideas were his own, but he owes a great deal to his mentor, Walter Shewhart. In this article, we explore the idea that led to Deming’s work on how organizations are systems: The Deming Chain Reaction.

Producing high quality products and services is key for any organization that wishes to stay in business. Yet, from my individual experience (probably your experience as well), not enough priority is given to quality.

An important goal for any organization is to produce trouble-free products and services and delightful products and services.

An important goal for any organization is to produce trouble-free products and services and delightful products and services.

By doing so, loyalty is created, reduces costs, and allows the firm to further delight the customer through other offerings.

Deming postulated what I discuss above in what is now known as the Deming Chain Reaction:

Deming’s point with the Deming Chain Reaction is to show how quality improvement impacts the bottom line.

improve quality => decrease costs => improve productivity => decrease prices => increase market => stay in business => provide employment => return on investment

Granted, his assumptions, at the time, was that competing on low price would increase sales, but that approach might not be the brand promise for some firms (Nordstrom’s and Zappos, for example).

Thinking of the Deming Chain Reaction, how might you apply this simple idea to your business?