Vision, Values, Milestones: Paul O'Neill Starts Total Quality at Alcoa

In November of 1987, Paul H. O'Neill, the new Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), appointed a task force of a dozen senior managers to explore the issue of quality management at Alcoa and report to him and the company's senior management Operating Committee with concrete recommendations for change. Over a period of about six months, this Quality Task Force and the Operating Committee labored first to identify the challenges and opportunities, and then to design and begin implementation of Alcoa's "Excellence through Quality" initiative. This is a somewhat personal account of the start-up of this new total quality management initiative at Alcoa.