Mohammad Zaid http://iso-qms.blogspot.

com/

Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa

July 13, 1915 - April 16, 1989

Introduction

Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa is one of the world`s foremost authorities on quality control. He

has helped thousands of companies, including IBM, Bridgestone, and Komatsu, to

turn out higher quality products at much lower costs. His book "What is Total Quality

Control?" The Japanese Way, Prentice Hall, Inc. was a best seller in business

books.
Mohammad Zaid http://iso-qms.blogspot.com/

Background

Kaoru Ishikawa July 13, 1915 - April 16, 1989) was a Japanese university professor

and influential quality management innovator best known in North America for the

Ishikawa or cause and effect diagram (also known as fishbone diagram) that is used

in the analysis of industrial process.

Education

He graduated in 1939 from the Engineering Department of Tokyo University having

majored in applied chemistry. In 1947 he was made an Assistant Professor at the
University. He obtained his Doctorate of Engineering and was promoted to Professor
in 1960.

Professional Career

1939- Graduated from the Department of Applied Chemistry, University of Tokyo

Employed in coal liquefaction and obtained experience in design, construction,
operations, and research.

1939 - 1941 - Naval Technical Officer In charge of 600 workers to construct

a factory. - This experience he says was invaluable to QC activities later on.

1947 - Researcher, University of Tokyo, began studying statistical methods

1949- Joined JUSE QC research group and became an instructor.

1952- Director of the Chemical Society of Japan

1969- Member of ISO, Japan

Mohammad Zaid http://iso-qms.blogspot.com/

1970- Commenced conducting quality control training seminars.

Consultant to Ford Motor Company, Bridgestone Co. Ltd, Komatsu Manufacturing,

Ltd., IBM Japan, American Society for Quality Control and thousands of other
companies.

1977 -Chairman of ISO, Japan

1981- Executive Member of ISO

1981- Published “What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way”, first edition.
Kaoru Ishikawa wanted to change the way people think about work. He urged
managers to resist becoming content with merely improving a product's quality,
insisting that quality improvement can always go one step further. His notion of
company-wide quality control called for continued customer service. This meant that
a customer would continue receiving service even after receiving the product. This
service would extend across the company itself in all levels of management, and
even beyond the company to the everyday lives of those involved. According to
Ishikawa, quality improvement is a continuous process, and it can always be taken
one step further.

Kaoru Ishikawa led the concept and use of Quality Circles. The intended purpose of
a Quality Circle is to;

• Support the improvement and development of the company

• Respect human relations in the workplace and increase job satisfaction
• Draw out employee potential

He believed quality must be company wide – including the product, service,

management, the company itself and the people. Quality improvement must be
companywide in order to be successful and sustainable.
Mohammad Zaid http://iso-qms.blogspot.com/

Many, including Juran and Crosby, consider Kaoru Ishikawa’s teachings to be more
successful in Japan than in the West. Quality circles are effective when management
understand statistical quality management techniques and are committed to act on
their recommendations.

Ishikawa is also credited with developing the Cause and Effect Diagram, also known
as the Ishikawa Diagram or more simplistic Fishbone Diagram. With the use of this
diagram the user can see all the possible causes of any given result, and hopefully
identity the root process of imperfections, thusly allowing quality improvement to be
driven from the “bottom up”.

In addition to his own developments, Iskikawa drew on, and expanded upon ideas
and principles from other notable quality management gurus, even expanding
Deming’s PDCA model into a six step plan

• Determine goals and targets

• Determine methods of reaching goals
• Engage in education and training
• Implement work
• Check the efforts of implementation
• Take appropriate action

In a speech to mark the 1000th quality circle convention in Japan in 1981, he

described how his work took him in this direction.

'I first considered how best to get grassroots workers to understand

and practice Quality Control. The idea was to educate all people
working at factories throughout the country but this was asking too
much. Therefore I thought of educating factory foremen or on-the-
spot leaders in the first place.'

Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa states that the following thought processes guided him:

1. Engineers who pass judgment based on their experimental data must

know statistical methods by heart.
Mohammad Zaid http://iso-qms.blogspot.com/

2. Japan does not have an abundance of natural resources and must import
raw materials and foodstuffs from overseas. This means that exports must be
expanded. The days of cheaply produced, poor quality goods for export are
over. Japan must endeavor to make high quality goods at low cost. For that
reason, quality control and statistical quality control must be conducted with
utmost care.

3. The eight years that I spent in the non academic world after my graduation
taught me that Japanese industry and society behaved very irrationally. I
began to feel that by studying quality control, and by applying QC properly,
the irrational behavior of industry and society could be corrected. In other
words, I felt that the application of QC could accomplish revitalization of
industry and effect a though revolution in management."

As with the other Japanese quality gurus, such as Genichi Taguchi, Kaoru Ishikawa
has paid particular attention to making technical statistical techniques used in quality
attainment accessible to those in industry. At the simplest technical level, his work
has emphasized good data collection and presentation, the use of Pareto Diagrams
to priorities quality improvements and Cause-and-Effect (or Ishikawa or Fishbone)
Diagrams.

Ishikawa sees the cause-and-effect diagram, like other tools, as a device to assist
groups or quality circles in quality improvement. As such, he emphasizes open group
communication as critical to the construction of the diagrams. Ishikawa diagrams are
useful as systematic tools for finding, sorting out and documenting the causes of
variation of quality in production and organizing mutual relationships between them.

Other techniques Ishikawa has emphasized include control charts, scatter diagrams,
Binomial probability paper and sampling inspection

Ishikawa’s relentless pursuit of taking quality improvement one step further

guarantees his status as a guru of continuous quality improvement, his legacy will
remain within the TQM of businesses across the globe for many years to come.
Mohammad Zaid http://iso-qms.blogspot.com/

At Ishikawa's 1989 death, Juran delivered this eulogy:

There is so much to be learned by studying how Dr. Ishikawa

“ managed to accomplish so much during a single lifetime. In my
observation, he did so by applying his natural gifts in an
exemplary way. He was dedicated to serving society rather than
serving himself. His manner was modest, and this elicited the
cooperation of others. He followed his own teachings by securing
facts and subjecting them to rigorous analysis. He was completely
sincere, and as a result was trusted completely.

Writings

• Ishikawa, Kaoru (1980) [original Japanese ed. 1970]. QC Circle Koryo :

General Principles of the QC Circle. Tokyo: QC Circle Headquarters, Union of
Japanese Scientists and Engineers.
• Ishikawa, Kaoru (1985). How to Operate QC Circle Activities. Tokyo: QC
Circle Headquarters, Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers.
• Ishikawa, Kaoru (1985) [First published in Japanese 1981]. What is Total
Quality Control? The Japanese Way [Originally titled: TQC towa Nanika—
Nipponteki Hinshitsu Kanri]. D. J. Lu (Trans.). New Jersey:
• Ishikawa, Kaoru (1990). Introduction to Quality Control. J. H. Loftus (Trans.).

Awards and Honors

• 1972 American Society for Quality's Eugene L. Grant Award

• 1977 Blue Ribbon Medal by the Japanese Government for achievements in
industrial standardization
• 1988 Walter A. Shewhart Medal
• 1988 Awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasures, Second Class, by the
Japanese government.
Mohammad Zaid http://iso-qms.blogspot.com/

For A rticle on Q uality visit my blog http:/ / iso-qms.blogspot.com/

Link to Previous A rticles

1. Philip B. Crosby: Four Absolutes of Quality Management and 14-Step

Quality Improvement Plan
2. Benefits of Implementing a QMS

3. IS TQM A TOTAL SOLUTION?

4. ISO List
5. Twelve Obstacles to Implementing Quality
6. Quality Control Tools
7. PDCA Cycle
8. Top Quality Gurus
9. Quality management system - Summary of requirements
10. Difference between Quality Assurance and Quality Control
11. What is ISO 9000?
12. Quality Glossary – A to Z
13. The Quality Control Audit - By Kaoru Ishikwa
14. The eight principles of quality management
15. Executive Summary of the 14 Toyota Way Principles
16. Toyota Production System

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