The
Deming Prize was a prize instituted by the
Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers in the 1950s. It is awarded anually to thos
individuals and
companies showing the most
improvement in
quality control.
The prize itself is named after a man few Americans have ever heard of, Dr. W. Edwards Deming. He was a government statistical consultant to the post-WWII Japanese administration, and gave a series of lectures in the early 1950s that revolutionised Japanese business. He told them that "Japanese quality could be the best in the world, instead of the worst, and they could transform the phrase 'Made in Japan' from a synonym for junk into a hallmark of quality". In less than four years Deming's statement had goaded Japanese industry on, and they saw their foreign markets booming. Now, more than half-a-century later we see "Made in Japan" as this very "hallmark of quality".
See also: "Made in Taiwan", "Made in Japan".