Walter A.

Shewhart

"FATHER OF STATISTICAL QUALITY “

W. EDWARDS DEMING SAID OF HIM:
AS A STATISTICIAN, HE WAS, LIKE SO MANY
OF THE REST OF US, SELF-TAUGHT, ON A
GOOD BACKGROUND OF PHYSICS AND
MATHEMATICS.
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WALTER A. SHEWHART
BORN: MARCH 18, 1891(1891-03-18),
NEW CANTON,ILLINOIS
DIED: MARCH 11, 1967(1967-03-11) (AGED  75)
FIELDS: PHYSICS, ENGINEERING, STATISTICS
INSTITUTION: WESTERN ELECTRONICS
 history
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A strong background in the sciences and engineering

prepared Shewhart for a life of accomplishments.
He graduated from the University of Illinois with
bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and he received a
doctorate in physics from the University of California
at Berkeley in 1917.
 He taught at the universities of Illinois and California,
and he briefly headed the physics department at the
Wisconsin Normal School in LaCrosse.
 History(contd)
4

Most of Shewhart’s professional career was spent as

as an engineer at Western Electric from 1918 to 1924
at Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he served in
several capacities as a member of the technical staff
from 1925 until his retirement in 1956
PDSA (Plan - Do - Study - Act)
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 Explanation
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 He had developed the famous PDSA (Plan - Do - Study -

Act) Cycle, which later on was popularized by Edward Deming
 Walter A. Shewhart first discussed the concept of PDCA in
his 1939 book, Stastical Method from the Viewpoint of
Quality Control, although it was Shewart's protégé Deming
who encouraged a systematic approach to problem solving and
promoted the now widely recognised four step process for
continual improvement.
 Deming refers to it as the PDSA Cycle(Plan Do Study Act) or the
Shewhart Cycle.
 PDSA (Plan - Do - Study - Act)
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Four continuous steps: Plan, Do, Study and Act.

Plan: Develop a plan for improving quality at a

process
Do: Execute the plan, first on a small scale
Study: Evaluate feedback to confirm or to adjust the
plan
Act: Make the plan permanent or study the
adjustments
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His monumental work, Economic Control of Quality

of Manufactured Product, published in 1931, is
regarded as a complete and thorough exposition of
the basic principles of quality control.
 Achievements and honours

His honors included:

Founding member, fellow and president of the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics;
Founding member, first honorary member and first Shewhart
Medalist of the American Society for Quality;
Fellow and President of the American President of the American
Statistical Association;
Fellow of the International Statistical Institute;
Honorary fellow of the Royal Statistical Society;
Holley Medal of the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers;
Honorary Doctor of Science, Indian Statistical, Calcutta.
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Thanks