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Quality
Introduction
B efore the concepts and ideas of TQ M w ere form alised, m uch w ork had taken place over the centuries to
reach this stage. This section charts the evolution, from inspection through to the present day concepts
of total quality.
From inspection to total quality
D uring the early days of m anufacturing, an operatives w ork w as inspected and a decision m ade w hether to
accept or reject it. A s businesses becam e larger, so too did this role, and full tim e inspection jobs
w ere created.
A ccom panying the creation of inspection functions, other problem s arose:
M ore technical problem s occurred, requiring specialised skills, often not possessed by
production w orkers
The inspectors lacked training
Inspectors w ere ordered to accept defective goods, to increase output
Skilled w orkers w ere prom oted into other roles, leaving less skilled w orkers to perform the
operational jobs, such as m anufacturing
These changes led to the birth of the separate inspection departm ent w ith a chief inspector, reporting to
either the person in charge of m anufacturing or the w orks m anager. W ith the creation of this new
departm ent, there cam e new services and issues, e.g, standards, training, recording of data and the
accuracy of m easuring equipm ent. It becam e clear that the responsibilities of the chief inspectorw ere
m ore than just product acceptance, and a need to address defect prevention em erged.
H ence the quality control departm ent evolved, in charge of w hich w as a quality control m anager, w ith
responsibility for the inspection services and quality control engineering.
In the 1920s statistical theory began to be applied effectively to quality control, and in 1924 Shew hart
m ade the rst sketch of a m odern control chart. H is w ork w as later developed by D em ing and the early
w ork of Shew hart, D em ing, D odge and R om ig constitutes m uch of w hat today com prises the theory of
statistical process control (SPC ). H ow ever, there w as little use of these techniques in m anufacturing
com panies until the late 1940s.
A t that tim e, Japans industrial system w as virtually destroyed, and it had a reputation for cheap im itation
products and an illiterate w orkforce. The Japanese recognised these problem s and set about solving them
w ith the help of som e notable quality gurus Juran, D em ing and Feigenbaum .
In the early 1950s, quality m anagem ent practices developed rapidly in Japanese plants, and becom e a
m ajor them e in Japanese m anagem ent philosophy, such that, by 1960, quality control and m anagem ent
had becom e a national preoccupation.
B y the late 1960s/early 1970s Japans im ports into the U SA and Europe increased signi cantly, due to its
cheaper, higher quality products, com pared to the W estern counterparts.
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From
Excellence
Quality
The Evolution of Quality
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From
Excellence
Quality
In 1969 the rst international conference on quality control, sponsored by Japan, A m erica and Europe, w as
held in Tokyo. In a paper given by Feigenbaum , the term total qualityw as used for the rst tim e, and
referred to w ider issues such as planning, organisation and m anagem ent responsibility. Ishikaw a gave a
paper explaining how total quality controlin Japan w as different, it m eaning com pany w ide quality
control, and describing how all em ployees, from top m anagem ent to the w orkers, m ust study and
participate in quality control. C om pany w ide quality m anagem ent w as com m on in Japanese com panies by
the late 1970s.
The quality revolution in the W est w as slow to follow , and did not begin until the early 1980s, w hen
com panies introduced their ow n quality program m es and initiatives to counter the Japanese success. Total
quality m anagem ent (TQ M ) becam e the centre of these drives in m ost cases.
In a D epartm ent of Trade & Industry publication in 1982 it w as stated that B ritains w orld trade share w as
declining and this w as having a dram atic effect on the standard of living in the country. There w as intense
global com petition and any countrys econom ic perform ance and reputation for quality w as m ade up of the
reputations and perform ances of its individual com panies and products/services.
The B ritish Standard (B S) 5750 for quality system s had been published in 1979, and in 1983 the N ational
Q uality C am paign w as launched, using B S5750 as its m ain them e. The aim w as to bring to the attention of
industry the im portance of quality for com petitiveness and survival in the w orld m arket place.
Since then the International Standardisation O rganisation (ISO ) 9000 has becom e the internationally
recognised standard for quality m anagem ent system s. It com prises a num ber of standards that specify the
requirem ents for the docum entation, im plem entation and m aintenance of a quality system .
TQ M is now part of a m uch w ider concept that addresses overall organisational perform ance and
recognises the im portance of processes. There is also extensive research evidence that dem onstrates the
bene ts from the approach.
A s w e m ove into the 21st century, TQ M has developed in m any countries into holistic fram ew orks, aim ed
at helping organisations achieve excellent perform ance, particularly in custom er and business results. In
Europe, a w idely adopted fram ew ork is the so-called B usiness Excellenceor ExcellenceM odel,
prom oted by the European Foundation for Q uality M anagem ent (EFQ M ), and in the U K by the B ritish
Q uality Foundation (B Q F).
www.dti.gov.uk/quality/evolution
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