The role of statistics as a tool of management

Growth of the mass production industries has posed new and complex problems in industrial management. Scientific solution of these problems necessitates statistical analysis of the vast quantities of data generated in these industries as a by‐product. To date, selected but limited headway has been made in using these data to solve the problems of industrial management. Improvements bordering on the spectacular have been achieved in selected instances of industrial applications of statistical analysis. Quality control and market research afford two such instances. These improvements have been mainly the result of commencing to use facts at all (to replace hunch) rather than the result of superior analysis of data long utilized. In consequence, these pioneering adventures in industrial applications of statistics have been made largely without the aid of statisticians. However, the great need for science in management, and the presence of vast quantities of data on which to base a science, suggest that industry will use trained statisticians in increasing numbers, to the extent that industry may become a principal employer of statisticians. The professional statistical societies can do much to aid the greater utilization of statistics in industry by: (a). organizing in each society u nrujor division to deal with the problems of statistics in industry. (b). sponsoring joint meetings with societies of managers, industrial engineers, and others interested in industrial statistics. (c). injecting into the current literature and into the statistical text‐books, cases and problems drawn from industry. (d). research to develop new statistical tools, and to simplify existing tools for use by industrial personnel. (e). recognizing useful work in industrial statistics through honors and awards.