This chapter discusses the history and evolution of the quality movement. It describes how quality management originated at Bell Laboratories in the early 20th century and was further developed by experts like Walter Shewhart, W. Edwards Deming, and Joseph Juran. The chapter then outlines key events and developments in quality from World War II through the 1990s, including the postwar period when American manufacturers neglected quality, the Japanese rise in quality in the 1970s, and the emergence of total quality management in the 1980s. It concludes with five American leaders who were instrumental in advancing quality management.

1. History of the Quality
Movement
Chapter 2
Achieving Quality Through
Continual Improvement
Claude W. Burrill / Johannes Ledolter
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999
Prepared by Dr. Tomi Wahlström,
University of Southern Colorado
Chapter 2 1

2. History of Quality
„ There are lessons to be learned from the
experiences of the successful companies.
The common factors are: Focusing on
customer needs, upper management in
charge of quality, training the entire
hierarchy to manage for quality, and
employee involvement - Joseph Juran,
World War II and the Quality Movement
Chapter 2 2

3. Modern Quality
Management
„ Bell Laboratories was the birthplace of
modern quality management
ƒ Walter Shewhart: Process Oriented Quality
Control
„ Both Deming and Juran worked for Bell
„ British Standards 600 established 1935
Chapter 2 3

4. World War II
„ Large expansion in quality control
activities
ƒ “One may even speculate that the second World War
was won by quality control and by the utilization of
modern statistics. Certain statistical methods
researched and utilized by the allied powers were so
effective that they were classified as military secrets
until the surrender of Nazi Germany.” - Kaoru
Ishikawa, What is Total Quality Control
Chapter 2 4

5. The Postwar period
„ ASQC was established at 1946
ƒ Changed name to ASQ at 1997
„ After war the attitude was that American
manufacturers could sell whatever they
produced, so who needed quality
„ Joseph Juran deserves lot of credit:
‚ “It is important that top management be quality-
minded. In the absence of sincere manifestation
of interest at the top, little will happen”
Chapter 2 5

6. The 1960’s
„ Baby boomers with increased incomes
were not interested in quality
„ Only positive direction was the change of
focus from the factory floor to the entire
production process - Armand V.
Feigenbaum, Total Quality Control:
Engineering and Management
„ No focus on people like Japanese
Chapter 2 6

7. The 1970’s
„ Troubled time for US manufacturers due
to Japanese increased success
ƒ Excuses: Japan depends of cheap labor,
Japanese workers are exploited, there is
something in their culture, Americans are lazy
„ Motorola and Whirlpool were good
examples of poor quality
Chapter 2 7

8. The 1980’s
„ Discovery of quality circles and Phil
Crosby
ƒ Crosby’s book Quality is Free a huge success
„ Ishikawa brought the Japanese way of
quality to US through his book What is
Total Quality Control
„ Still, American managers still didn’t get
the message
Chapter 2 8

9. Total Quality Management
„ Concept emerged during the 80’s from a
variety of different sources
„ SEMATECH’s definition:
ƒ TQM is a holistic business management
methodology that aligns the activities of all
employees in an organization with the
common focus of customer satisfaction
through continuous improvement of all
activities, goods and services
Chapter 2 9

10. Early TQM successes
„ Nashua
„ Xerox
„ Motorola
„ Intel
„ Dayton-Hudson
„ Corning
„ Hewlett-Packard
Chapter 2 10

11. The 1990’s
„ First clear signs of the payoffs of TQM
finally emerged
„ Small number of US companies raised the
quality in a world class level
„ However, there were also problems
ƒ Hubble Space Telescope
ƒ “The Seal of the Navel Academy is hereunto
affixed” - US Naval Academy diplomas
Chapter 2 11

12. World Trade
„ Growing importance of the world trade
caused need for world wide quality
standards and accelerated unification of
Europe and development of third world
countries
„ ISO 9000 standards were developed
Chapter 2 12

13. Five American Quality
Leaders
„ Shewhart
„ Deming
„ Juran
„ Feigenbaum
„ Crosby
Chapter 2 13

14. Questions?
Chapter 2 14

15. Copyright© 1999 John Wiley & Sons Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that
permitted in section 117 of the United States Copyright Act
without the express written permission of the copyright owner
is unlawful. Request for further information should be
addressed to the permission department, John Wiley & Sons,
Inc. The purchaser may make back-up copies for his/her own
use only and not for distribution or resale. The Publisher
assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages,
caused by the use of these programs or from the use of the
information contained herein.
Chapter 2 15