BSOP326 – Total Quality Management

BSOP326 – Total Quality Management

Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa
Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Cover Page 1
Table of Contents 2
Introduction 3
Background 3
Significant Accomplishments 4
Conclusion 4
References 5

There is so much to be learned by studying how Ishikawa managed to accomplish so much during a single lifetime. In my observation, he did so by applying his natural gifts in an exemplary way. He was dedicated to serving society rather than serving himself. His manner was modest, and this elicited the cooperation of others. He followed his own teachings by securing facts and subjecting them to rigorous analysis. He was completely sincere, and as a result was trusted completely.
Joseph M. Juran, 1989

Introduction
Over the last 50 years, Japan has developed and implemented its own take on quality control and standardization. Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, engineer and economist, was one of the greatest contributors to these means, and his name has become an authority in quality control. Ishikawa’s work revolutionized perceptions and approaches to product quality and aided thousands of companies, including IBM, in providing quality products at lower costs.

Kaoru Ishikawa was inspired by the lack of uniquely Japanese approaches to quality control and sought to standardize the process. Ishikawa believed that the old method quality statistics could benefit from a change in how we think about work. He not only convinced the top to improve product quality but also insisted that quality improvement can always go further.

What Ishikawa envisioned was a process wherein the customer would contribute to product quality via product review long after receiving the product, receiving customer service throughout ownership. This care would inadvertently ensure that more than just the manufacturer was involved; Ishikawa’s approach required all aspects of a business to contribute to a greater means. It was Ishikawa’s belief that quality improvement should be a never-ending process that could always be taken one step further.

Background
Kaoru Ishikawa is a native of Japan and was born in 1915 in Tokyo. He earned an engineering degree in applied chemistry from Tokyo University in 1939. He began his career at Nissan Liquid Fuel Company in 1941 and later worked as an associate professor at the University of Tokyo.

However, Ishikawa’s greatest contribution to economics was his work on quality strategy. Until the 1960s, foreign, static models heavily influenced Japanese practice in quality strategy. Ishikawa saw the opportunity for quality control to occur on all levels of management and product design. In 1960, with the Union of Japanese Engineers (JUSE), Ishikawa developed the concept of “Quality Circles” to demonstrate the need of a bottom-up approach.

“Quality Circles” soon became popular in over 50 countries for their versatility. At first he believed it was the common language of Chinese that made Quality Circles popular. Their use in the West, however, led Ishikawa to conclude that it was their anthropological versatility. He would later publish two books on Quality Circles; “QC Circle Koryo” and “How to Operate QC Circle Activities.”

Ishikawa eventually developed the Cause and Effect Diagram, also known as the Ishikawa Diagram, which would complement earlier Quality Circles. The Cause and Effect Diagram would ensure that untrained professionals could readily identify and solve problems. This allows quality improvement to be driven from the "bottom up" and maintain Company Wide Quality Control (CWQC). 1

Significant Accomplishments
It is commonly accepted that Ishikawa’s greatest contribution to quality control and standardization is his oversight of its versatile expansion. The most important characteristic of these uniquely Japanese approaches is the holistic incorporation of quality; from top to bottom within a business and beginning to end of a product’s life cycle. 2

Ishikawa also elaborated on existing models to further integrate methods of quality control, including Deming's PDCA model which he expanded into a six-step plan: 1. Determine goals and targets 2. Determine methods of reaching goals 3. Engage in education and training 4. Implement work 5. Check the efforts of implementation 6. Take appropriate action
His contributions honored him with many awards included4: * 1972 American Society for Quality's Eugene L. Grant Award * 1977 Blue Ribbon Medal by the Japanese Government for achievements in industrial standardization * 1988 Walter A. Shewhart Medal * 1988 Awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasures, Second Class, by the Japanese government.

Conclusion
It can be said that Ishikawa’s legacy is the creation and successful implementation of quality control. However, an equally important consequence of these models is the adherence to standardization. Contemporary ideas of standardization include static and mechanized methods of quality control. Ishikawa, however, believed that top-bottom and product life cycle approaches would ensure that standardization remained flexible with changing ideas of quality. Ishikawa’s long career of consistently improving product and process quality has ensured him the title of “guru of continuous quality improvement.” His versatile models and their worldly applications within the TQM of business will ensure their use for many years to come.

References 1. Vector, S. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://vectorstudy.com/management-gurus/kaoru-ishikawa 2. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://asq.org/about-asq/who-we-are/bio_ishikawa.html 3. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gregoryhwatson.eu/images/6-QP_Watson_-_April2004_-_Legacy_of_Ishikawa.pdf