Armand Feigenbaum

Born: April 6, 1920

New York City, US

Died: November 13, 2014 (aged 94)

Pittsfield, Massachusetts, US

Alma mater: MIT Sloan School of Management

Occupation: Engineer and Quality control

- Feigenbaum, known as “Val”, received a bachelor's degree in industrial administration from

Union College, his master's degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and his Ph.D. in
Economics from MIT.
- He is the developer of “Total Quality Control” concept
- He was President and CEO of General Systems Company, which he founded in 1968.
- In 2008, Dr. Feigenbaum was presented with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation
by President Bush at a ceremony at the East Wing of the White House. The National Medal is the
highest honor for technological achievement bestowed on America’s leading innovators.
- From 1937-1968, Dr. Feigenbaum grew from an entry-level pre-college job to be the hands-on
manager of quality as the Company-wide Manager of Manufacturing Operations and Quality
Control at the General Electric Company (1958-68) in New York City.
- He developed the “Total Quality Control” concept while concurrently at GE. He introduced the
concept first in an article in 1946.
- In 1951, while a doctoral student at MIT, Dr. Feigenbaum wrote the first edition of his book
Total Quality Control.
- He established the principles of Total Quality Management (“TQM”), the approach to quality
and profitability that has profoundly influenced management strategy and productivity in the
competition for world markets in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle
East.
- He wrote, “Total quality control is 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.”
- Feigenbaum wrote several books and served as President of the American Society for Quality
(1961–1963).
- He died on November 13, 2014, at the age of 94.
Main Contributions

1. Total Quality Control

- Armand develops this concept under a systemic approach, in which all the parties involved
influence the result.
- Seen from the industrial perspective, Armand proposes that the final quality level of a product is
not the exclusive responsibility of the production department that was in charge of its creation,
but other departments are integrated in the process.
- With this proposal, Feigenbaum aspires to the effective involvement and integration of all
organizational levels for the improvement of quality and service, always aiming for the
excellence and satisfaction of the final consumer.
- For Feigenbaum, total quality control is an "effective system that integrates the development,
maintenance and quality improvement efforts in various groups of the organization, to allow
production and services at lower levels that allow complete consumer satisfaction".

The elements of total quality to enable a totally customer focus (internal and external)

 Quality is the customers perception of what quality is, not what a

company thinks it is.
 Quality and cost are the same not different.
 Quality is an individual and team commitment.
 Quality and innovation are interrelated and mutually beneficial.
 Managing Quality is managing the business.
 Quality is a principal.
 Quality is not a temporary or quick fix but a continuous process of
improvement.
 Productivity gained by cost effective demonstrably beneficial Quality
investment.
 Implement Quality by encompassing suppliers and customers in the
system.

2. Quality Costs
- Once exposed his concept of total quality control, Armand developed the quality costs,
necessary to guarantee a quality product that can be offered to the customer.
- These are classified according to their origin and are those related to prevention, revaluation,
and internal and external failures:
Prevention costs
- The costs of prevention are those managed to avoid failures in the production processes, as well
as to avoid that an error can produce higher costs when solving it.
- To measure these production costs, preventive measures are taken through product reviews,
quality reports, improvement projects, among other actions.
 Revaluation costs
- They originate by carrying out product measurements, as well as inspection and measurement
of stages ranging from the raw materials to be used, inventory updating and measurement
testing for production.
Internal failure costs
- The costs of internal failures are those that arise during manufacturing, all that average stage in
which the product is involved before going to market.
- These include waste and failure of machinery or the same product, for example.
External failure costs
- They occur once the product has already reached the final consumer, and revolve around price
variations, claims and returns that may arise.

3. "The steps towards quality" of Feigenbaum

- Armand illustrates his concept of quality from other principles, subjecting it to scenarios that
allow to enhance its effectiveness.
For this he developed certain fundamental steps for the application of his methodology, known
as" steps towards quality".

Mandate towards quality

- The first of these steps is the "mandate for quality" and focuses on leadership.
- A good level of quality requires careful planning.
- This step seeks to overcome the traditional approaches to quality, which made their
measurements in relation to failures and failure.
- For Armand, a constant effort must be made to maintain an adequate level of quality.

Ancient quality tactics

- The second step corresponds to "old quality tactics", which involve the integration of the
different departments involved in an organization.

Command of the organization

- The third step is the "command of the organization"; the mandate as a fundamental piece to
ensure quality, manifested through permanent discipline at all levels of the company.
The “Hidden Plant’ or “Hidden Factory Concept

- Feigenbaum’s concept of the hidden factory was primarily focused on quality, specifically the
waste and costs caused by “bad work”, much of which is “hidden” below the surface of day-to-
day operations. In every factory a certain proportion of its capacity is wasted through not getting
it right the first time.
- Dr. Feigenbaum quoted a figure of up to 40% of the capacity of the plant being wasted. At that
time, this was an unbelievable figure; even today some managers are still to learn that this is a
figure not too far removed from the truth.

Four major lost factors:

Schedule Loss - Time where production could be running – but is not scheduled.

Availability Loss - time where production should be running – but is not.

Performance Loss - time where production is running – but not as fast as it should.

Quality Loss - time where production is running – but one or more pieces are not good the
first time through.

The hidden factory represents all of the untapped production potential within your current plant.

Calculation on finding the potential in the hidden factory

- First, calculate your Fully Productive Time by multiplying Good Pieces by Ideal Cycle Time.

Fully Productive Time represents how close you are to perfect production.

Good Pieces are pieces that pass through the manufacturing process the first time without needing any
rework.

Ideal Cycle Time is the theoretically fastest cycle time your process can achieve under optimal
conditions.
 - Second, calculate your Hidden Factory by subtracting Fully Productive Time from All Time (24/7).

Hidden Factory is what is left after subtracting Fully Productive Time from All Time.

Impact of the four major factors in hidden factory

Schedule Loss

- The largest component of the hidden factory for most one- or two-shift operations.
- Typically addressed with overtime (short-term) or additional staff (long-term) to defer capital
expenditures.

Availability Loss

- The largest component of the hidden factory during scheduled production time for most
companies.

Performance Loss

- This is truly a hidden loss for many companies as it is not nearly as visible as Downtime.

Quality Loss

- Gets a lot of focus because of potential customer impact, but usually has the smallest impact on
the hidden factory.