Joseph M Juran - Collected Quotes

"It is most important that top management be quality-minded. In the absence of sincere manifestation of interest at the top, little will happen below." (Joseph M Juran, "Management of Inspection and Quality Control", 1945)

"Quality planning consists of developing the products and processes required to meet customer's needs." (Joseph M Juran, "Juran on planning for quality", 1988)

"Data are of high quality if they are fit for their intended use in operations, decision-making, and planning." (Joseph M Juran, 1964)

"Without a standard there is no logical basis for making a decision or taking action." (Joseph M Juran, "Managerial Breakthrough: The Classic Book on Improving Management Performance", 1995)

"'Benchmarking' is a recent label for the concept of setting goals based on knowing what has been achieved by others. A common goal is the requirement that the reliability of a new product be at least equal to that of the product it replaces and at least equal to that of the most reliable competing product. Implicit in the use of benchmarking is the concept that the resulting goals are attainable because they have already been attained by others." (Joseph M Juran, "The quality planning process", 1999)

"Customer satisfaction comes from those features which induce customers to buy the product. Dissatisfaction has its origin in deficiencies and is why customers complain."  (Joseph M Juran, "How to think about quality", 1999)

"Many quality failures arise because a customer uses the product in a manner different from that intended by the supplier." (Joseph M Juran, "The quality planning process", 1999)

"Quality goals that affect product salability should be based primarily on meeting or exceeding market quality. Because the market and the competition undoubtedly will be changing while the quality planning project is under way, goals should be set so as to meet or beat the competition estimated to be prevailing when the project is completed." (Joseph M Juran, "The quality planning process", 1999)

"'Quality' means freedom from deficiencies - freedom from errors that require doing work over again (rework) or that result in field failures, customer dissatisfaction, customer claims, and so on." (Joseph M Juran, "How to think about quality", 1999)

"‘Quality’ means those features of products which meet customer needs and thereby provide customer satisfaction." (Joseph M Juran, "How to think about quality", 1999)

"Quality planning generates a large amount of information that is both useful and necessary, but without a systematic way to approach the organization and analysis of this information, the planning team may be overwhelmed by the volume and miss the message it contains." (Joseph M Juran, "The quality planning process", 1999)

"The anatomy of 'quality assurance' is very similar to that of quality control. Each evaluates actual quality. Each compares actual quality with the quality goal. Each stimulates corrective action as needed. What differs is the prime purpose to be served. Under quality control, the prime purpose is to serve those who are directly responsible for conducting operations - to help them regulate current operations. Under quality assurance, the prime purpose is to serve those who are not directly responsible for conducting operations but who have a need to know - to be informed as to the state of affairs and, hopefully, to be assured that all is well." (Joseph M Juran, "How to think about quality", 1999)

"To attain quality, it is well to begin by establishing the 'vision' for the organization, along with policies and goals. Conversion of goals into results (making quality happen) is then done through managerial processes - sequences of activities that produce the intended results." (Joseph M Juran, "How to think about quality", 1999)

"When designing a product, there are actually two related but distinct aspects of what is being developed: the technology elements of what the product’s features will actually do or how it will function and the human elements of the benefits customers will receive from using the product. The two must be considered together." (Joseph M Juran, "The quality planning process", 1999)

"Goal setting has traditionally been based on past performance. This practice has tended to perpetuate the sins of the past." (Joseph M Juran)

"Improvement means the organized creation of beneficial change; the attainment of unprecedented levels of performance. A synonym is 'breakthrough.'"  (Joseph M Juran)

"Quality improvement should be directed at all areas that influence company performance - business processes as well as factory processes. Quality improvement should not be left solely to voluntary initiatives; it should be built into the system." (Joseph M Juran) 

"To achieve improvement at a revolutionary pace requires that improvement be made mandatory - that it become a part of a regular job, written into the job description."  (Joseph M Juran)