Philip B. Crosby

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Phil Crosby
Born Philip Bayard Crosby
(1926-06-18)June 18, 1926
Wheeling, West Virginia
Died August 18, 2001(2001-08-18) (aged 75)
Asheville, North Carolina[1]
Cause of death
 Respiratory failure[1]
Resting place
 Palm Cemetery, Winter Park, Florida
Residence Winter Park, Florida
Education 1950
Alma mater Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine[2]
Occupation Quality consultant
Years active 1952 – 1999
Employer The Martin Company, ITT Corporation, Philip Crosby Associates
Organization American Society for Quality Control, Toastmasters International
Known for Philosophies of Quality management, Zero Defects, Quality Management Maturity Grid
Notable work(s) Quality Is Free (1979)[3]
Spouse(s) Peggy
Children Phylis, Philip, Jr.

Philip Bayard "Phil" Crosby, (June 18, 1926 – August 18, 2001) was a businessman and author who contributed to management theory and quality management practices.[4]

Crosby initiated the Zero Defects program at the Martin Company.[5] As the quality control manager of the Pershing missile program, Crosby was credited with a 25 percent reduction in the overall rejection rate and a 30 percent reduction in scrap costs.

Early life and career

Crosby was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1926. He served in the Navy during World War II and again during the Korean War. In between, he earned a degree from the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine.[2]

His first job in the field of quality was that of test technician in the quality department at Crosley Corporation in Richmond, Indiana beginning in 1952. He left for a better-paying position as reliability engineer at Bendix Corporation in Mishawaka, Indiana in 1955, working on the RIM-8 Talos missile. He left after less than two years to become senior quality engineer at The Martin Company's new Orlando, Florida organization to develop the Pershing missile. There he developed the Zero Defects concept.[5] He eventually rose to become department head before leaving for ITT Corporation in 1965 to become director of quality.

Philip Crosby Associates

In 1979, Crosby started the management consulting company Philip Crosby Associates, Inc.[2] This consulting group provided educational courses in quality management both at their headquarters in Winter Park, Florida, and at eight foreign locations. Also in 1979, Crosby published his first business book, Quality Is Free. This book would become popular at the time because of the crisis in North American quality. During the late 1970s and into the 1980s, North American manufacturers were losing market share to Japanese products largely due to the superior quality of the Japanese goods.

Crosby's response to the quality crisis was the principle of "doing it right the first time" (DIRFT). He also included four major principles:[6]

  1. The definition of quality is conformance to requirements (requirements meaning both the product and the customer's requirements)
  2. The system of quality is prevention
  3. The performance standard is zero defects (relative to requirements)
  4. The measurement of quality is the price of nonconformance

His belief was that an organization that established a quality program will see savings returns that more than pay off the cost of the quality program: "quality is free".

Works

  • —— (1979). Quality is Free. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-014512-1. 
  • —— (1981). The Art of Getting Your Own Sweet Way. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-014527-X. 
  • —— (1984). Quality Without Tears. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-014511-3. 
  • —— (1986). Running things. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-014513-X. 
  • —— (1988). The Eternally Successful Organization. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-014533-4. 
  • —— (1989). Let's talk quality. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-014565-2. 
  • —— (1990). Leading, the art of becoming an executive. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-014567-9. 
  • —— (1994). Completeness: Quality for the 21st Century. Plume. ISBN 0-452-27024-3. 
  • —— (1995). Philip Crosby's Reflections on Quality. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-014525-3. 
  • —— (1996). Quality is still free: Making Quality Certain in Uncertain Times. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-014532-6. 
  • —— (1997). The Absolutes of Leadership (Warren Bennis Executive Briefing). Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0-7879-0942-4. 
  • —— (1999). Quality and Me: Lessons from an Evolving Life. Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0-7879-4702-4. 

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Philip Crosby, 75, Developer Of the Zero-Defects Concept". The New York Times (New York). 2001-08-22. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2012-09-01. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Biography". http://www.philipcrosby.com. Winter Park, Florida: Philip Crosby Associates. Retrieved 2012-09-01. 
  3. ↑ "Philip Crosby". Milwaukee, Wisconsin: American Society for Quality. Retrieved 2012-09-01. 
  4. ↑ "Philip Crosby Collection". Winter Park Public Library. 2004. Retrieved 2009-05-02. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Harwood, William B. (1993). "27: "Zero Defects" Was Invented Here". Raise Heaven and Earth: The Story of Martin Marietta People and Their Pioneering Achievements. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 350. ISBN 9780671749989. OCLC 28710737. "Zero Defects was the brainchild of a gifted and articulate young engineer named Philip Crosby, who conceived it while working as quality control manager on Pershing." 
  6. ↑ Creech, Bill (1994). "11: A TQM Path to Tomorrow: New Ways for New Days". The Five Pillars of TQM: How to Make Total Quality Management Work for You. New York: Truman Talley Books. p. 478. ISBN 9780525937258. OCLC 28508067. 

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