I recently attended a lecture by an industrial statistician. Part of the lecture included a summary of Dorian Shainin’s body of work. I had to smile as the lecturer spoke about Shainin’s “exaggerated claims” of the results attributed to his methods and his infamous “pre-control.” This really piqued my interest because I’ve had good results using this technique, although reviews are mixed.
Why haven’t we heard much of Shainin’s methods since the Six Sigma/lean operations rage has taken hold? That’s not easy to pinpoint. One reason may be that users who are aware of his philosophies aren’t willing to accept product that’s “good enough.”