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Time was when the conventional wisdom of the American world of work was that, if you want
to raise quality of a product or service, you must invest or spend more money.
Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Dr. Joseph Juran began to challenge that
conventional wisdom in the 1950s. Dr. Genichi Taguchi’s research and writings
in Japan subsequently destroyed forever the idea that only by throwing money at a process
can you improve it.
Taguchi defined the costs relating to quality as (paraphrased):
"The cost of quality is the cost to individuals,
organizations, or societies of the cost of poor quality"
Taguchi, therefore, turned around for ever the concept of what should be measured when
determining quality. You measure results from existing poor or failed quality.
Faulty product returns are measurable. Costs of inspection versus including
quality into design can be measured. Company or user repair costs for labor and
parts can be measured. Production line downtime can be measured. Customers
losses due to poor service can be measured. Enrollment drops in a university can be
measured. Investment in failure prevention can be costed. Results of Six Sigma
programs can be compared with processes that have not adopted Six Sigma. Profits
after ISO certification can be compared with those before certification. Costs of
quality programs can be compared with revenues over time and with returns on investment
prior to implementation of those quality programs. Publication of quality programs,
cost figures and productivity figures stimulate cost reductions and competition internally
and externally. The costs of poor quality policymaking can be measured in human
suffering.
In Dr. Deming’s "Out of the Crisis" he states that using Taguchi’s
model: "leads to lower and lower costs as quality improved." The Juran
Institute has done extensive research and documentation into Quality Costs. The
controversy of the 1970's in the United States over whether "Quality Costs or Quality
Pays" has been resolved - QUALITY PAYS. Quality pioneers, quality institutes,
The American Society for Quality (ASQ), quality degree programs in colleges and
universities, the spread of international quality standards, increasing profits of
companies which have adopted quality programs, and the global adoption of the United
States Government Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award Criteria (27 nations by 1999) are all
testimony to the overwhelming evidence that quality pays in the cost benefit sense.
Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, and Crosby all taught that it would. The Taguchi
definition has given the world indisputable proof. |
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"It takes all the running you can do, to
keep in the same place", the Queen said to Alice in Lewis Carroll’s THROUGH
THE LOOKING GLASS. Hosting the 1997 National Quality Month Satellite Download program, the
CEO of Ford Motor Company stated it somewhat differently: "If your not getting
better, you’re getting behind." And a Chinese proverb says: "Learning
is like rowing in a river, if you are not advancing, you are regressing."
Those are three ways, out of thousands, of describing. Continuous Improvement.
Improvement is a very old idea. St. Luke in the New Testament (Luke 6: 1-20) tells
of Jesus improving the lives of the afflicted, crippled and poor on the Sabbath. Sir
Francis Bacon, in essay on Riches (1596), wrote: "The improvement of the ground
is the most natural obtaining of riches." Governor Bradford, in his
written design for building Plymouth Plantation, wrote: "They might be kept close
together, both for more saftie and defence, and ye better improvements of ye generail
employments." The United States Congress for over 100 years has
appropriated funds for the improvement of harbors, rivers, highways and similar works.
However, the idea that "Continuous Improvement" should be a
formal component and goal of business and management strategy came only with the teachings
of Deming, Juran and other Quality Sciences pioneers after World War II. Think about
our basics in Quality Management: The Shewhart Cycle, Statistical Processing Control,
Points #1 and #5 of Deming’s 14 Points, Juran’s Quality Improvement Projects,
Crosby’s "Zero Defects," The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award Criteria, ISO development of standards, Koality Kid, ASQ’s certification
programs, and Six Sigma. Continuous Improvement is imbedded in each one.
As we look at world problems today there seems no ending for the need for
applications of continuous improvement. It is a ubiquitous principle of the last 50
years with roots into antiquity. Has your company, school, church, agency or
organization successfully integrated it? Can we improve forever? Do we know
the complete system costs and benefits of attempting to do so? What might be beyond
Six Sigma? Can we create formal continuous improvement evaluation systems for
Leadership and Policymaking?
Joseph Juran in 1998 stated that the 21st Century, not the 20th,
will be remembered as the century of quality. Continuous Improvement is a classic
idea with more profound impacts for future work, play and society. |
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