Inside Feigenbaum's Hidden Factory Unisex T-shirt

Not available in stores.

This might be our most inside of inside jokes, not to mention a badass tee for industrial engineers, quality improvement professionals, op-ex experts, lean thinkers, and six sigma black belts.

Give a nod to Val Feigenbaum’s brilliance with this comfy, classy, t-shirt. Or give it as a gift to anyone who has ever invoked the wisdom of the hidden factory.

#IYKYK

If you don't know, Armand “Val” Feigenbaum’s hidden factory is a cornerstone of modern industrial engineering. It’s the phenomenon of energy lost to wasteful activities in a factory. They are hidden inasmuch as they are unplanned, do nothing to create value, and appear on no metrics.

Feigenbaum’s greatest contribution to industry is the framework of Total Quality Control, which he described as, “an effective system for integrating the quality development, quality maintenance, and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organization so as to enable production and service at the most economical levels which allow full customer satisfaction.” Total quality control later evolved into the more palatable Total Quality Management.

Feigenbaum was one of the great minds of American industry. He graduated from MIT, served as president of the American Society for Quality, wrote several books, and founded a charitable foundation with his brother to promote education in technology.

Feigenbaum once said, “You have to understand that quality problems, like bananas, come in bunches. And if you try to go at them a banana at a time rather than at the stalk, you're going to wind up with a lot of sour fruit.” Okay, so it’s far from the greatest analogy.

It is Edwards Deming who is most strongly associated with the foundational concept that quality is everybody’s job. Fine. No argument. But Feigenbaum is credited with identifying the risk that anything that’s everyone’s job is a risk of becoming nobody's job. We think there’s safety in numbers, but sometimes there’s danger in numbers. Val therefore emphasized as a central practice active quality management and visibility from the shop floor to the executive suite. It’s hard to imagine that this notion, now ubiquitous, was once novel.

LIMITED TIME ONLY!

Like all of our shirts, this fun insider's joke is offered exclusively to QI Curiosities customers.

And it pays to buy in batches.

• Buy 3-4 for 15% off. 
• Buy 5 for 20% off.
• Buy 6 or more for 25% off.

Our comfy t-shirts are soft and lightweight, with just the right amount of stretch.  

• 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (Heather colors contain polyester)
• Fabric weight: 4.2 oz./yd.² (142 g/m²)
• Pre-shrunk fabric
• Side-seamed construction
• Shoulder-to-shoulder taping
• Blank product sourced from Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, or the US

This product is made especially for you as soon as you place an order, which is why it takes us a bit longer to deliver it to you. Making products on demand instead of in bulk helps reduce overproduction, so thank you for making thoughtful purchasing decisions!

Size guide