On My Mind
The Deming Prize and Deming Grand Prize are administered by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). They are widely recognized as the most prestigious Quality awards in the world. The Deming Prize is the first of the two Quality awards. An organization can apply for the Deming Grand Prize three or more years after it has received the Deming Prize. The Deming Prize and Deming Grand Prize winners are announced in the Fall each year. There were three Deming Prize winners in 2022: Aso Iizuka Hospital (Japan); Apollo Tyres Limited, Chennai Plant (India); and Cataler (Wuxi) Automotive Environment Technology Co., Ltd. (China). If you want to learn more about world class organizations, then you should visit the JUSE website and research Deming Prize and Deming Grand Prize-winning organizations.

Interesting Stories
I’ve been following the FIFA World Cup 2022 Soccer tournament held in Qatar. Thirty-two teams qualified for the tournament and they were organized into eight groups of four teams. Each team will play each of the other teams in their group during Group Play—three matches per team in Group Play. Two teams from each of the eight groups will advance to the “Round of Sixteen.” The “Round of Sixteen” games follow the “win or go home” format. “Round of Sixteen” winners advance to the Quarterfinals – those winners advance to the Semi-Finals – those winners advance to the Championship Match on December 18, 2022. France won the tournament in 2018 and has a good chance to win again in 2022. Game on!

Company News
I presented on Superior Quality as a Competitive Advantage on November 2, 2022 at the Minnesota American Society for Quality (MN ASQ) Annual Quality Conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center. There are several public learning opportunities on the horizon: the Strategic Improvement Black Belt course starts January 18, 2023; the Strategic Improvement Green Belt course starts February 14, 2023; the Analytics Strategy course will be held February 16, 2023; and the Strategic Improvement Master Black Belt course starts March 7, 2023. The course brochures are available on the PUBLIC SEMINARS page of this website.

Intriguing Reads
I purchased the August of 1962 edition of Fortune Magazine at a used bookstore while on a trip to Madison, Wisconsin earlier this year. The August of 1962 edition was 13.0” by 10.5” which is larger than the contemporary editions. I gained a deep appreciation for everything about that edition – content, advertising, photographs, graphics, etc. The one-year subscription cost back then was $10. The following companies advertised in that edition (partial list): Western Union, Texas Instruments, Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, Mobil, FMC Corporation, Youngstown Steel, Mitsubishi Zosen, Remington Rand Office Systems, Toshiba, and ITT. There was an excellent article on the America’s Cup. Also, there was a list of the “Top 100” foreign companies. The “Top 5” foreign companies were Royal Dutch/Shell, Unilever, British Petroleum, Nestle, and ICI. I especially liked the advertisement by Manufacturers Hanover Trust titled “Theseus and the Labyrinth” which effectively uses one of the most famous stories in Greek mythology in which Theseus fights the Minotaur in the labyrinth aided by a ball of string. Learning about the past always informs my view of our current times and the future – I highly recommend it!