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Wilson College of Textiles

A Godfrey

AG
Blan Godfrey

Joseph D. Moore Distinguished University Professor

Joseph D. Moore Distinguished University Professor, TATM

Textiles Complex 3330

Bio

Dr. A. Blanton Godfrey (Blan) is Joseph D. Moore Distinguished University Professor of Textile & Apparel Technology & Management, Wilson College of Textiles, North Carolina State University. The College is the leading institution of its type in the world and produces over half the doctorates in its field in the United States.

Prior to joining NC State on July 1, 2000 Blan was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Juran Institute, Inc., the leading international management consulting, research, and training organization focused on quality management and business excellence, a position he held for thirteen years. Prior to joining Juran Institute, Blan was Head of the Quality Theory and Technology Department of AT&T Bell Laboratories. The department focused on applied research in the areas of quality management and technology, reliability and productivity. Blan joined Bell Labs in 1973 after receiving an MS and PhD in Statistics from Florida State University and a BS in Physics from Virginia Tech.

For nineteen years Blan was also an Adjunct Professor in Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science where he taught graduate courses in quality management and control. For four years he was a guest lecturer in clinical quality management in the School of Public Health, Harvard University.

Blan is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the American Society for Quality, the World Academy of Productivity Sciences, and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Art, Manufacturers, and Commerce. He is an elected member of Sigma Xi, the New York Academy of Science, The Fiber Society, and an Academician of the International Academy for Quality. He is also listed in Who’s Who in America. He has published over 200 articles and book chapters and co-authored or co-edited seven books including Modern Methods for Quality Control and Improvement and Curing Health Care: New Strategies for Quality Improvement. The first edition of Modern Methods was named “Book of the Year” by the Institute of Industrial Engineering and the second edition was published in 2002. He is the co-editor (with Dr. Joseph M. Juran) of Juran’s Quality Handbook, Fifth Edition, published in March 1999. The Spanish edition of the handbook was published in 2000, and the Chinese edition in 2003. The Japanese edition and a paperback revised edition of Curing Health Care were published in 2002. Blan was co-editor of the Management of Quality and Business Statistics section of the Encyclopedia of Statistics in Quality and Reliability published in 2007.

Dr. Godfrey was a member of the United States delegation to ISO’s Technical Committee 176 from 1980 to 1987 during the years of the creation of the ISO 9000 series of standards. From 1987 to 1990, Blan contributed to the creation of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and served as a judge for the first three years of the award. He served as a member of the Board of Examiners again in 1999 and 2000. He has also served as Chair of the Judges for the United States Air Force Quality Award and on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Award for Excellence. Blan served as a member of the Board of Directors of Juran Institute, the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s Quality Management Network, Textera, the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Cancer Hope Network, and on the Board of Overseers for Fordham University’s School of Business, the National Advisory Council for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s special initiative, “Pursuing Perfection: Raising the Bar in Healthcare Quality,” and served as an Award Judge for the Veterans Health Administration Kenneth W. Kizer Quality Achievement Award.

He currently serves as Chair of the Board of the American Society for Quality and on the Leadership Council of the College of Arts and Sciences for Florida State University. He also is a member of the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and on the Quality Management Board of NiSource. In the past he has been Chair of the North Carolina Board of Science, Technology and Innovation, Chair of the Board of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, on the board of the Emerging Issues Institute, the board of Instrumar, the board and executive committee of [TC]² (Textile Clothing and Technology Corporation), the board of directors for WakeMed Health and Hospitals, the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Hospital Association, and on the Board of Directors of Carolina Ballet.

In 1987 Blan and Donald Berwick, MD, then of Harvard University and the Harvard Community Health Plan, started the National Demonstration Project for Health Care Quality Improvement. Over the years this project has evolved under Don’s leadership into the not-for-profit Institute for Healthcare Improvement and has become a major force in changing health care management throughout the world.

Blan has given seminars, consulted, or taught courses in over fifty-five countries and his written materials have been translated, collectively, in over fifteen languages. He has personally worked with many of the top executives of leading companies throughout the world.

In 1992 the American Society for Quality Control presented Blan the Edwards Medal for his outstanding contributions to the science and practice of quality management. Blan received the Distinguished Graduate Award from Florida State University’s College of Arts and Sciences in 1993. He was also named a “Grad Made Good” by the FSU student members of ODK, a campus leadership fraternity that each year selects three former students they admire for career accomplishments. Blan’s research interests include dynamic interactive data visualization, statistical graphics, quality and productivity management, strategic deployment, entrepreneurship, and applied statistics. In 2001 he became the founding editor of Six Sigma Forum Magazine, a new journal published by the American Society for Quality. In 2005 he was selected as the Deming Lecturer for the American Statistical Association’s Annual Conference.

In 2008 Blan received the C. Jackson Grayson Distinguished Quality Pioneer Medal in recognition for innovation in the promotion of quality for all mankind and for “his leadership in blending quality and innovation in product development, strategy and higher education.” Blan shared this honor with Mr. Al Gore, Dr. Donald Berwick and Dr. Jerry Weast. In 2010, he received the Distinguished Service Medal from the American Society for Quality and also was made an Honorary Member of the Argentine Foundation for Quality that year. In 2011 he received the Meritorious Service Award from the North Carolina Hospital Association and a Special Achievement Award from the American Statistical Association Quality and Productivity Research Conference. In 2016 he received the William G. Hunter Award from the Statistics Division of the American Society for Quality, “as a visionary leader in applied statistics and quality who has made impactful contributions in a wide array of application areas that include new technology development, manufacturing, product reliability and quality, and healthcare quality.” In 2017 he received the Feigenbaum Lifetime Achievement Medal from the William L. Hurd Foundation and was also inducted into the Virginia Tech College of Science Hall of Distinction. In 2019 he received the American Society for Quality Lean Six Sigma Forum’s Six Sigma Achievement Award, and in 2020 received the American Society for Quality’s highest award, the designation as an Honorary Member. In 2021 he received the International Academy of Quality Marcos Bertin Quality in Governance Medal.

Research

Research interests include: dynamic interactive data visualization, maternal and child health, entrepreneurship, innovation, and new product development; manufacturing competitiveness and reshoring; applied statistics focused on quality management, Lean Six Sigma, experimental design, graphical statistics, data analysis; improvement science and implementation science.

Teaching

FTM 310 – Entrepreneurship and New Product Development,
TT/TTM/TE 553 – Lean Six Sigma,
T 491 – Honors Seminar,
FTM 217 – Textile Industry

Education

B.S. Physics Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 1963

M.S. Statistics Florida State University 1970

Ph.D. Statistics Florida State University 1974

Area(s) of Expertise

Entrepreneurship
Lean Six Sigma
Product Development
Quality Management

Publications

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Groups