Printer incorporates Deming - reduces errors, increases productivity. (Edwards Deming's Quality Process Commitment program)(Publishers Press)

Printer Incorporates Deming -- Reduces Errors, Increases Productivity

Only in the past two or three years have an increasing number of printing, separating, and publishing companies began to apply successfully the principles of a QPC program.

Wedwards Deming is a name revered by many production and quality control specialists and managers. However, it is only in recent years that U.S.-based companies have grasped his concepts of managing systems of machines and people.

When Deming began teaching his new management concepts after World War II, he knew what few American managers would concede: that higher quality can mean lower cost.

Japanese companies, after a little coaxing, anxiously implemented the ideas he offered. The Japanese wanted simply to bring their nation back to the level it had attained prior to the war. Six weeks after applying Deming's concepts, several companies reported productivity gains of as much as 30 percent -- without purchasing any new equipment. Thirty years later, they emerged as a world leader in production and quality.

American managers began visiting Japanese manufacturing plants in the mid to late 70s. They were amazed at the attitude and performance of factory workers, and concluded it was due to something inherent in the Japanese culture. Managers came home convinced their own companies' productivity and quality problems were beyond their control. They blamed their problems on the American worker, government regulation, unions and anything else but their own antiquated managerial philosophies.

Today, American companies …