THE HISTORY OF QUALITY

The History of Quality

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QUALITY IN THE MEDIEVAL GUILDS OF
EUROPE
The quality movement can trace its roots back to medieval Europe, where craftsmen began
organizing into unions called guilds in the late 13th century. These guilds were responsible for
developing strict rules for product and service quality. Inspection committees enforced the rules
by marking flawless goods with a special mark or symbol.

Craftsmen themselves often placed a second mark on the goods they produced. At first this mark
was used to track the origin of faulty items. But over time the mark came to represent a
craftsman’s good reputation. Inspection marks and master craftsmen marks served as proof of
quality for customers throughout medieval Europe. This approach to manufacturing quality was
dominant until the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century.

QUALITY IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Until the early 19th century, manufacturing in the industrialized world tended to follow this
craftsmanship model. The factory system, with its emphasis on product inspection, started in
Great Britain in the mid-1750s and grew into the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s.
American quality practices evolved in the 1800s as they were shaped by changes in predominant
production methods.

Craftsmanship
In the early 19th century, manufacturing in the United States tended to follow the craftsmanship
model used in the European countries. Since most craftsmen sold their goods locally, each had a
tremendous personal stake in meeting customers’ needs for quality. If quality needs weren’t met,
the craftsman ran the risk of losing customers not easily replaced. Therefore, masters maintained
a form of quality control by inspecting goods before sale.

The Factory System

The factory system, a product of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, began to divide the
craftsmen’s trades into specialized tasks. This forced craftsmen to become factory workers and
forced shop owners to become production supervisors, and marked an initial decline in
employees’ sense of empowerment and autonomy in the workplace. Quality in the factory system
was ensured through the skill of laborers supplemented by audits and/or inspections. Defective
products were either reworked or scrapped.

The Taylor System

Late in the 19th century the United States broke further from European tradition and adopted a
new management approach developed by Frederick W. Taylor, whose goal was to increase
productivity without increasing the number of skilled craftsmen. He achieved this by assigning
factory planning to specialized engineers and by using craftsmen and supervisors as inspectors
and managers who executed the engineers’ plans.

Taylor’s approach led to remarkable rises in productivity, but the new emphasis on productivity
had a negative effect on quality. To remedy the quality decline, factory managers created
inspection departments to keep defective products from reaching customers.

QUALITY IN WORLD WAR II

After entering World War II, the United States enacted legislation to help gear the civilian
economy to military production. During this period, quality became a critical component of the
war effort and an important safety issue. Unsafe military equipment was clearly unacceptable,
and the U.S. armed forces inspected virtually every unit produced to ensure that it was safe for
operation. This practice required huge inspection forces and caused problems in recruiting and
retaining competent inspection personnel.

To ease the problems without compromising product safety, the armed forces began to
use sampling inspection to replace unit-by-unit inspection. With the aid of industry consultants,
particularly from Bell Laboratories, they adapted sampling tables and published them in a military
standard, known as Mil-Std-105. These tables were incorporated into the military contracts so
suppliers clearly understood what they were expected to produce.

The armed forces also helped suppliers improve quality by sponsoring training courses in Walter
Shewhart’s statistical quality control (SQC) techniques.
 QUALITY IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY
The beginning of the 20th century marked the inclusion of "processes" in quality practices. A
"process" is defined as a group of activities that takes an input, adds value to it, and provides an
output. Walter Shewhart began to focus on controlling processes in the mid-1920s, making
quality relevant not only for the finished product but for the processes that created it.

Shewhart recognized that industrial processes yield data. Shewhart determined this data could be
analyzed using statistical techniques to see whether a process is stable and in control, or if it is
being affected by special causes that should be fixed. In doing so, Shewhart laid the foundation
for control charts, a modern-day quality tool.

W. Edwards Deming, a statistician with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Census Bureau,
became a proponent of Shewhart’s SQC methods and later became a leader of the quality
movement in both Japan and the United States.

THE HISTORY OF TOTAL QUALITY IN

AMERICA
The birth of total quality in the United States was in direct response to a quality revolution in
Japan following World War II, as major Japanese manufacturers converted from producing military
goods for internal use to producing civilian goods for trade.

At first, Japan had a widely held reputation for shoddy exports, and their goods were shunned by
international markets. This led Japanese organizations to explore new ways of thinking about
quality.

Deming, Juran, and Japan

The Japanese welcomed input from foreign companies and lecturers, including two American
quality experts:

 W. Edwards Deming, who had become frustrated with American managers when most programs
for statistical quality control were terminated once the war and government contracts came to
and end.
 Joseph M. Juran, who predicted the quality of Japanese goods would overtake the quality of
goods produced in the United States by the mid-1970s because of Japan’s revolutionary rate of
quality improvement.

Japan’s strategies represented the new "total quality" approach. Rather than relying purely on
product inspection, Japanese manufacturers focused on improving all organizational processes
 through the people who used them. As a result, Japan was able to produce higher-quality exports
at lower prices, benefiting consumers throughout the world.

The American Total Quality Management Response

At first, U.S. manufacturers held onto to their assumption that Japanese success was price-
related, and thus responded to Japanese competition with strategies aimed at reducing domestic
production costs and restricting imports. This, of course, did nothing to improve American
competitiveness in quality.

As years passed, price competition declined while quality competition continued to increase. The
chief executive officers of major U.S. corporations stepped forward to provide personal leadership
in the quality movement. The U.S. response, emphasizing not only statistics but approaches that
embraced the entire organization, became known as Total Quality Management (TQM).

Several other quality initiatives followed. The ISO 9000 series of quality-management standards,
for example, were published in 1987. The Baldrige National Quality Program and Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award were established by the U.S. Congress the same year. American
companies were at first slow to adopt the standards but eventually came on board.

BEYOND TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

As the 21st century begins, the quality movement has matured. New quality systems have evolved
beyond the foundations laid by Deming, Juran, and the early Japanese practitioners of quality.

Some examples of this maturation in quality management include:

 Most recently in 2015, the ISO 9001 standard was revised to increase emphasis on risk
management.
 In 2000, the ISO 9000 series of quality management standards was revised to increase emphasis
on customer satisfaction.
 Beginning in 1995, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award added a business results
criterion to its measures of applicant success.
 Six Sigma, a methodology developed by Motorola to improve its business processes by minimizing
defects, evolved into an organizational approach that achieved breakthroughs and significant
bottom-line results.
 Quality function deployment was developed by Dr. Yoji Akao as a process for focusing on
customer wants or needs in the design or redesign of a product or service.
 Sector-specific versions of the ISO 9000 series of quality management standards were developed
for such industries as automotive (QS-9000 and ISO/TS 16949), aerospace (AS9000) and
telecommunications (TL 9000) and for environmental management (ISO 14000).
 Quality has moved beyond the manufacturing sector into such areas as service, healthcare,
education, and government.
 The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award has added education and healthcare to its original
categories: manufacturing, small business, and service. Many advocates are pressing for the
adoption of a "nonprofit organization" category as well.

Importance of Quality Management

“Quality management” ensures superior quality products and services. Quality of a product can be measured in terms of
performance, reliability and durability. Quality is a crucial parameter which differentiates an organization from its competitors.
Quality management tools ensure changes in the systems and processes which eventually result in superior quality products
and services. Quality management methods such as Total Quality management or Six Sigma have a common goal - to deliver a
high quality product. Quality management is essential to create superior quality products which not only meet but also exceed
customer satisfaction. Customers need to be satisfied with your brand. Business marketers are successful only when they
emphasize on quality rather than quantity. Quality products ensure that you survive the cut throat competition with a smile.

Quality management is essential for customer satisfaction which eventually leads to customer loyalty. How do you think
businesses run? Do businesses thrive only on new customers? It is important for every business to have some loyal customers.
You need to have some customers who would come back to your organization no matter what.

Would you buy a Nokia mobile again if the previous handset was defective? The answer is NO.
Customers would return to your organization only if they are satisfied with your products and services. Make sure the end-user
is happy with your product. Remember, a customer would be happy and satisfied only when your product meets his
expectations and fulfills his needs. Understand what the customer expects from you? Find out what actually his need is? Collect
relevant data which would give you more insight into customer’s needs and demands. Customer feedbacks should be collected
on a regular basis and carefully monitored. Quality management ensures high quality products and services by eliminating
defects and incorporating continuous changes and improvements in the system. High quality products in turn lead to loyal and
satisfied customers who bring ten new customers along with them. Do not forget that you might save some money by ignoring
quality management processes but ultimately lose out on your major customers, thus incurring huge losses. Quality
management ensures that you deliver products as per promises made to the customers through various modes of
promotions. Quality management tools help an organization to design and create a product which the customer actually
wants and desires.

Quality Management ensures increased revenues and higher productivity for the organization. Remember, if an
organization is earning, employees are also earning. Employees are frustrated only when their salaries or other payments are
not released on time. Yes, money is a strong motivating factor. Would you feel like working if your organization does not give
you salary on time? Ask yourself. Salaries are released on time only when there is free cash flow. Implementing Quality
management tools ensure high customer loyalty, thus better business, increased cash flow, satisfied employees, healthy
workplace and so on. Quality management processes make the organization a better place to work.

Remove unnecessary processes which merely waste employee’s time and do not contribute much to the organization’s
productivity. Quality management enables employees to deliver more work in less time.

Quality management helps organizations to reduce waste and inventory. It enables employees to work closely with
suppliers and incorporate “Just in Time” Philosophy.

Quality management ensures close coordination between employees of an organization. It inculcates a strong feeling of team
work in the employees.