In a well-organized system all the components work together to support each other. In a system that is well led and managed, everybody wins. This is what I taught Japanese top management and engineers beginning in 1950. If by bad management the components become competitive, the system is destroyed. Everybody loses. Costs go up, quality declines, the market declines.

—W. Edwards Deming from the Preface of Dr. Deming: The American who Taught the Japanese About Quality by Rafael Aguayo.

We do not want to be “part-smart” but rather focus on outcomes from the whole system of cleaning; even if that means the parts are not optimized in isolation: Focus on the 100% output, not the 10%.

We welcome input on this post.