Evolution of Quality
Before the concepts and
ideas of TQM were formalized, much work 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.
2.2.1 Quality in early
days
During the early days
of manufacturing, an operative’s work was inspected and a decision made whether
to accept or reject it. As businesses became larger, so too did this role and
full time inspection jobs were created.
Accompanying the
creation of inspection functions, other problems arose:
· More technical
problems occurred, requiring specialized skills, often not possessed by
production workers
· The inspectors lacked
training
· Inspectors were
ordered to accept defective goods, to increase output
· Skilled workers were
promoted into other roles, leaving less skilled workers to perform the
operational jobs, such as manufacturing
These changes led to
the birth of the separate inspection department with a “chief inspector”,
reporting to either the person in charge of manufacturing or the works manager.
With the creation of this new department, there came new services and issues,
e.g., standards, training, recording of data and the accuracy of measuring equipment.
It became clear that the responsibilities of the “chief inspector” were more
than just product acceptance, and a need to address defect prevention emerged.
Hence the quality
control department evolved, in charge of which was a “quality control manager”,
with responsibility for the inspection services and quality control
engineering.
In the 1920’s
statistical theory began to be applied effectively to quality control, and in
1924 Shewhart made the first sketch of a modern control chart. His work was
later developed by Deming. The work of Shewhart and Deming constitutes much of
what today comprises the theory of statistical process control (SPC). However,
there was little use of these techniques in manufacturing companies until the
late 1940’s.
At that time, Japan’s industrial system was virtually destroyed, and it 
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