Japan's Quality Performance

By the late 1960’s/early 1970’s Japan’s imports into the USA and Europe increased significantly, due to its cheaper, higher quality products, compared to the Western counterparts.

In 1969 the first international conference on quality control, sponsored by Japan, America and Europe, was held in Tokyo. In a paper given by Feigenbaum, the term “Total Quality” was used for the first time, and referred to wider issues such as planning, organization and management responsibility.
Ishikawa gave a paper explaining how “Total Quality Control” in Japan was different, it meaning “Company Wide Quality Control”, and describing how all employees, from top management to the workers, must study and participate in quality control. Company wide quality management was common in Japanese companies by the late 1970’s.

The quality revolution in the West was slow to follow, and did not begin until the early 1980’s, when companies introduced their own quality programmes and initiatives to counter the Japanese success. 

Total quality management (TQM) became the centre of these drives in most cases.

In a Department of Trade & Industry publication in 1982 it was stated that Britain’s world trade share was declining and this was having a dramatic effect on the standard of living in the country. There was intense global competition and any country’s economic performance and reputation for quality was made up of the reputations and performances of its individual companies and products/services.

The British Standard (BS) 5750 for quality systems had been published in 1979, and in 1983 the National Quality Campaign was launched, using BS5750 as its main theme. The aim was to bring to the attention of industry the importance of quality for competitiveness and survival in the world market place.
Since then the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) 9000 has become the internationally recognised standard for quality management systems. It comprises a number of standards that specify the requirements for the documentation, implementation and maintenance of a quality system.

TQM is now part of a much wider concept that addresses overall organizational performance and recognises the importance of processes. There is also extensive research evidence that demonstrates the benefits from the approach. As we move into the 21st century, TQM has developed in many countries into holistic frameworks, aimed at helping organizations achieve excellent performance, particularly in customer and business results.

In Europe, a widely adopted framework is the so-called “Business Excellence” or “Excellence” Model, promoted by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), and in the UK by the British Quality Foundation (BQF).”

Encrypted from (www.dti.gov.uk/quality/evolution)