Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa Bio

Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa

Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, a native of Japan, is known as one of the most popular figures in the world as pertains to quality management. Ishikawa's practices of Total Quality Management have influenced many of those in the business world, even to his day. Ishikawa has helped thousands of companies, which include big names, such as IBM, Ford Motor Company, Bridgestone, just to name a few in accessing high quality products at much lower costs. He has written award-winning books, in particularly, his book, "What is Total Quality Control?," are among one of his most popular. In addition, he has won various awards for his writings/works on quality control which include the Deming Prize and the Grant award.

Ishikawa was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1915 and he graduated from the Univesity of Tokyo in 1939, majoring in engineering with an emphasis in applied chemistry. He also went on to teach at the University of Tokyo, where he advanced in earning his doctorate degree in engineering. Ishikawa is mostly known as being the creator of something known as the "Quality Circle Movement" in Japan. He is also known for his "Ishikawa diagram," which is currently and also known as "fishbone diagram" or "cause and effect diagram." These diagrams play a significant role in Quality Circles as they are used as tool in problem-solving. Additionally, as the leader of "Total Quality Control" movement, he focused techniques on statistical qualit control through the use of Pareto/Control charts.

Generally speaking, Ishikawa believed that quality improvement is/was a primary way for companies to be successful. In order for it to all work, he believed that quality itself must be inherited throughout an entire company from top to bottom - starting from the employees to the product, to the service, all the way to management. Ishikawa accomplished much more in life as it progressed; became a researcher, director, chairman, and an executive.

Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa was...