Deming and the Proactive Statistician

Abstract

This article is based upon the 2001 Deming Lecture of the American Statistical Association, presented at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Atlanta, Georgia. It discusses how the role of the statistician has evolved since Dr. Deming's death in 1993, and how his teachings have fared. It conjectures on what Deming would say about the current scene, and, especially, about the Six Sigma initiative. The proactive statistician is presented as a logical extension to today's environment of Deming's statistical leader. The contributions of the proactive statistician and specific opportunities are described. The role of academia is also discussed.

KEY WORDS :

• Just-in-time maintenance
• Process improvement
• Quality
• Reliability
• Statistical leader
• Statistical thinking