QUALITY IN JAPAN

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ve to international levels. These poor products were sold only at ridiculously low
application of mass production techniques.

culture and industry through the comprehensive promotion of various projects and

ty Control Course (the first one lasting 12 months, and subsequent ones lasting 6

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he Deming Application Prize provides a powerful incentive for Japanese companies

turing conditions and product quality, and reducing the work force needed for insp

ry area of corporate activity and clearly positioned quality control as a managem

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, and adopting corrective measures if that disparity becomes abnormally large. Thi

sually there are many other extraneous factors likely to influence the results, an

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s clear that when workers are responsible only for following the established manu

trongly emphasized. However, it should be underlined that as long as processes hav

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al to understand the causes. Permanent corrective action thus focuses on the proce

rmance of manufactured products cannot be achieved. To offer training to the work

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y linked with companywide quality control activities. The quality control circle

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ontrol circles are often divided into smaller circles. Some workers become the lea
g lines or quality control circles of manufacturing and inspection, etc
er, as the quality control circle members progressed in their studies, many of the
nducted by the attending members who were assigned as the session moderators. The

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, the manufacturing schedule, and other aspects of production.

ch as control charts, and scatter diagram. In addition, techniques such as regress
using, transportation and purchasing.
ensable, for ensuring product quality, and parent companies are encouraging the fo

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on a company-wide scale. Three of the principal reasons often cited as to why thi

to hold, although this will depend on how the labor shortages are dealt with. Even

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ergy crises, in 1973 and 1979, respectively. Japan is particularly vulnerable econ

an be broadly divided into energy saving in manufacturing processes and the like,

rs of the industrial restructuring that was to take place in Japan beginning in t

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stewarding their companies for the benefit of society.

ese and foreign corporations going back to the 1970s. It is interesting to see th

panies.

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Deming Prize Committee drafted new regulations for the operation of the Deming Ap

cesses, which indicated Japanese management systems can be applied to any kind of

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 COMPANY - WIDE QUALITY CONTROL IN JAPAN

he narrow fields of manufacturing and inspection to almost all company branches.

ompanies quality control activities are not restricted to quality control staff b

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d training. Thus, since the early 1950s education and training in quality control

hnical Scholarship (AOTS). Furthermore, many Japanese companies are enthusiastic ab

rective actions.

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long-term plan of company-wide quality control in order to realize that policy. I

lity improvement plans for existing products in the course of policy management.

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e is not merely for the employees “to pass the examination” but to stimulate mutu

the internal audit contributes to the improvement of mutual understanding and hum

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redetermined theme is preferred in many companies; these audits become more intens

he department that is to undergo audit.

t summarizes the ideas and the points of the audit, it is often effective to annou

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ite common for companies to judge the adequacy of their quality assurance by the

ers that receive few complaints do not sell at all because they lack appeal.

ities. Must-be quality is expressed in terms of indicators such as the defect rate

ctive in controlling the former type of quality, the latter type is best achieved

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nly to must-be quality, and activities to reduce them have little to do with activ

of these is that, while quality costs address the issue of must-be quality, they t

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sts borne by customers as a result of poor quality.

given to environmental issues, it is also necessary to take into account the cos

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lated Japanese cities. Beyond the need for comfortable temperature and humidity ar

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es autonomous inspection, which consists of workers checking their own products to

he division of responsibility between autonomous inspection and proxy inspection

duct as a motivational tool and to use in the manufacturing process in a way that

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quality conforms to their quality of design, that is, for manufacturing conformin

ses with far better process capability indices than ever before.

s are occurring, control charts are no longer needed. It is strongly emphasized on

ors thought most likely to influence them. It is necessary to confirm the princip

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is in fact inseparable from it. On the other hand, necessity and importance of wo

ple engaged in the work and reduces their opportunities to exercise those faculti
ally not often complied with.

ds in a manufacturing process. They usually include the following three items:

s that the process must produce.

e safety and preserve the quality created in upstream processes.

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as item 2 regardless of who is responsible for the work? As emphasized previously

ion are thus not mutually exclusive but mutually complementary.

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dispensable, first to improve the quality of design to meet the target of fitness

ng all departments. In other words, the cycle of plan-do-check-act should be rotate

y-wide standpoint should not be implemented just by the supervisory head office o

ts for each function and comparing these with the company-wide cross-functional o

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rcent inspection. Japanese manufacturers have been trying to establish and mainta

manufacturers are placing more and more importance on promoting the type of qual

p management personnel. Because of the smaller size of the supplier companies, qua

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shed in 1966 and presented by Ishikawa at the International Conference on Quality

live and let live” based on the responsibilities of enterprises for the public. F

utual understanding and cooperation on their quality control systems.

ence of the other party.

he vendor, so that the vendor can understand what should be manufactured.

a rational contract between them in respect of quality, quantity, price, delivery

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ction to vendee. Vendor is also responsible for submitting necessary and actual d

forehand, which will be admitted as satisfactory to both parties.

cedures through which they can reach amicable settlement of disputes whenever any

hould exchange information necessary to carry out better quality control.

ciently, such as in ordering, production and inventory planning, clerical work, and

take full account of the consumer’s interest.

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paper on quality design, Aiba emphasized the importance of securing external qual

ity. They reflect must-be quality—the poor quality of product dissatisfaction. In

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needs and that they are delighted to use. It is impossible to achieve this in reg

y control story is also highly effective. It is important to make positive use of

s, they follow the PDCA cycle.

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ucts are classified into the following groups on the basis of their novelty:

lass 1, the quality, including safety, and the reliability should be most strictly

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The steps in new-product development are roughly as follows:

1. Market research
2. Conceptualization
3. Experiments, market research
4. Application for patent
5. Quality design
6. Pilot-scale manufacturing and qualification testing
7. Process design
8. Full-scale production testing and sales
9. Mass production
10. Termination of initial warning system
11. Termination of mass production

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