ABSTRACT
Armand Feigenbaum,who died in 2014, originated the approach to quality known as ‘Total Quality Control’ (TQC), which has a clear industrial focus. After completing a doctorate at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Feigenbaum joined the General Electric Company where he was manager of world-wide manufacturing operations and quality control before becoming Founder and President of General Systems Company. His book, Total Quality Control, completed whilst he was still a doctoral student, and his other works, were discovered by the Japanese in the early 1950s.Hewas also involvedwith them through his business contacts with Hitachi and Toshiba. Bendell (1989: 15) states that Feigenbaumpresented a case for a ‘systematic, or total approach
to quality’, and it is argued by Bank (1992: xv) that he was the first to do so. Logothetis (1992: 94) suggests that to Feigenbaum ‘quality is simply a way of managing a business organisation’,whileGilbert (1992: 22) concurswith that and adds that Feigenbaum sees ‘quality improvement as the single most important force leading to organisational success and growth’. Pyzdek andKeller (2013) describe it as ‘TQCis a systemof specializedquality control activities’. Feigenbaum’s contribution has beenwidely recognised.Hewas founding chairmanof the
International Academy for Quality and is a past president of the American Society for Quality Control, which awarded him the Edwards Medal and Lancaster Award for his international contribution to quality and productivity (Bendell, 1989: 15).
