Armand V. Feigenbaum
{{Short description|American quality control expert}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Armand V. Feigenbaum
| image = Armand Vallin Feigenbaum.gif
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|4|6|}}[http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/berkshire/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=173173255 Armand Feigenbaum Obituary - Pittsfield, MA | The Berkshire Eagle] Retrieved September 22, 2018.
| birth_place = New York City, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|11|13|1920|4|6}}
| death_place = Pittsfield, Massachusetts, US
| occupation = Engineer and Quality control
| spouse =
| parents =
| children =
| alma_mater = MIT Sloan School of Management
}}
Armand Vallin Feigenbaum (April 6, 1920 – November 13, 2014) was an American quality control expert and businessman.{{cite book|last=Cook|first=Robert Cecil|title=Who's who in American Education: A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Living Educators of the United States, Volume 22|year=1966|publisher=Who's Who in American Education}} He devised the concept of Total Quality Control (TQM), now known as "total quality management".
Biography
Feigenbaum, known as “Val”,Union College, [https://muse.union.edu/newsarchives/2004/07/22/donald-s-armand-v-feigenbaum-2/ Donald S. '46 and Armand V. '42 Feigenbaum], published 22 July 2004, accessed 26 July 2021 received a bachelor's degree in industrial administration from Union College, and worked during World War II on aircraft engine design. He earned his master's degree at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and his Ph.D. in Economics was also awarded by MIT. He was Director of Manufacturing Operations at General Electric (1958–1968), and was later the President and CEO of General Systems Company of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, an engineering firm that helps companies define business operating systems. Feigenbaum wrote several books and served as president of the American Society for Quality (1961–1963).{{cite web |url=https://asq.org/about-asq/honorary-members/feigenbaum |title=A. V. FEIGENBAUM: Laying the foundations of modern quality control|author= |date= |website=asq.org |publisher=ASQ |access-date=25 June 2021 |quote=}} He worked closely with his brother, Donald S. Feigenbaum.Feigenbaum Foundation, [https://www.feigenbaumfoundation.org/about/dr-donald-s-feigenbaum/ Dr. Donald S. Feigenbaum], accessed 27 July 2021
File:ArmandVFeigenbaumGravestone.jpg]]
He died on November 13, 2014, at the age of 94.{{Cite web |url=http://www.union.edu/news/stories/2014/11/college-mourns-armand-v.-feigenbaum-42.php |title=College mourns Armand V. Feigenbaum '42 |access-date=2014-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218035228/http://www.union.edu/news/stories/2014/11/college-mourns-armand-v.-feigenbaum-42.php |archive-date=2014-12-18 |url-status=dead }}
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Key ideas
Val Feigenbaum's significant contributions to the development of quality in business management were to link established ideas about quality into a more systematic discipline and to define total quality in a workable and practical way.{{rp|51-2}}
His contributions to the quality body of knowledge include:
- Seeing Total Quality Control as "an effective system for integrating the quality development, quality maintenance, and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organization so as to enable production and service at the most economical levels which allow full customer satisfaction".{{cn|date=December 2024}}
- The concept of a "hidden" plant or factory, popularised in the 1970s: the idea that so much extra work is performed in correcting mistakes that there is effectively a hidden plant within any factory, potentially 20-40% of the total capacity.Stevens, T., [https://www.industryweek.com/operations/quality/article/21964151/dr-armand-feigenbaum-on-the-cost-of-quality-and-the-hidden-factory Dr. Armand Feigenbaum on the Cost of Quality and the Hidden Factory], Industry Week, 4 July 1994, accessed 27 July 2021
- Accountability for quality: because quality is everybody's job, it may become nobody's job.Smith, J. L., [https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/95869-quality-responsibility Quality Responsibility], Quality Magazine, published 1 January 2020, accessed 28 July 2021 Central to this idea is that quality must be actively managed and have visibility at the highest levels of management.
- The concept of quality cost: the cost of achieving quality plus the cost of absence of quality.Powell, S., [https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/archived/learning/management_thinking/interviews/feigenbaum.htm An interview with Armand Feigenbaum], Emerald Group Publishers, republished March 2001, archived content from an older version of the Emerald Publishing website, accessed 1 August 2021
- The time lag between the introduction of total quality initiatives inside the major companies within a country and their observed economic impact: for example, Japanese companies introduced quality initiatives in the 1950s which took effect in the Japanese economy in the 1970s and likewise the United States' quality initiatives from the 1980's saw an economic impact in the 1990s.Watson, G. H., [https://www.proquest.com/docview/214765599?fromopenview=true&pq-origsite=gscholar&sourcetype=Magazines "Feigenbaum's Enduring Influence"] in Quality Progress, November 2005, p. 51, accessed on 30 December 2024
- Quality is neither a department, nor a technique nor a philosophy. It is a fundamental way of managing.
Bibliography
- {{citation |last=Feigenbaum |first=A V |year=1945 |title=Quality control: principles, practice and administration; an industrial management tool for improving product quality and design and for reducing operating costs and losses |publisher=New York, McGraw-Hill |series=McGraw-Hill industrial organization and management series |oclc=18582947}}
- {{citation |last=Feigenbaum |first=Armand Vallin |year=1961 |title=Total Quality Control |publisher=New York, McGraw-Hill |oclc=250573852}}
- {{citation |last=Feigenbaum |first=A V |year=2003 |title=The power of management capital : utilizing the new drivers of innovation, profitability, and growth in a demanding global economy |last2=Feigenbaum |first2=Donald S |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-07-021733-1 |oclc=52165584 }}
- {{citation |last=Feigenbaum |first=A V |year=2009 |title=The power of management innovation : 24 keys for sustaining and accelerating business growth and profitability |last2=Feigenbaum |first2=Donald S |publisher=McGraw-Hill |series=McGraw-Hill mighty manager handbooks. |isbn=978-0-07-162578-4 |oclc=277205991 }}
References
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External links
{{Commons category|Armand V. Feigenbaum}}
{{Wikiquote}}
- [https://asq.org/about-asq/honorary-members/feigenbaum ASQ Feigenbaum Biography page]
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Category:American business theorists
Category:American chief executives
Category:MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni
Category:MIT Sloan School of Management alumni
Category:National Medal of Technology recipients
Category:Union College (New York) alumni
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
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