Kaoru Ishikawa; A step ahead in quality philosophy

R. A. Prosper

Total Quality Management

Professor Kinane

November 17, 2012

Kaoru Ishikawa; A step ahead in quality philosophy

Kaoru Ishikawa held the belief that quality must be companywide, including the product, service, management, the company itself, and the people. Mr. Ishikawa promoted the use of Quality Circles which he believed were the principal method for achieving participation as a problem solving tool. He gave his name to the Ishikawa diagram, also known as the fishbone diagram, or cause and effect diagram. This tool was designed to allow the user to see all possible causes of a result, and hopefully find the root of process imperfections. Ishikawa drew and expounded on principals from other quality gurus, including those of W. Edwards Deming and Juran into the Japanese system of quality management (Smith, 2006).
This paper will attempt to highlight Mr. Ishikawa’s background, awards, achievements, philosophies, and his continuing impact on quality in today’s world. According to Ishikawa, quality improvement is a continuous process and it can always be taken one step further ("Kaoru ishikawa: The," 2012).
Background:
Kaoru Ishikawa was born in Tokyo in 1915: the oldest of eight sons. He graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1939 with an engineering degree in applied chemistry and held a doctorate in engineering and was Emeritus Professor at Tokyo University (Beckford, 2010). After serving as a naval technical officer (1939-1941) he started work at the Nissan Liquid Fuel Company until 1947 ("Kaoru ishikawa,”).
In 1947 he became an associate professor at the University of Tokyo and in 1978 he was named president of the Musashi Institute of Technology. Ishikawa became involved in quality issues in 1949 through his association with the Union of Japanese Scientists, and Engineers (JUSE) and subsequently became a worldwide lecturer and consultant on quality. Through his association with JUSE, he developed the concept of quality circles in 1969. In later years he would develop the Ishikawa or fishbone diagram, the only technique that originated with Ishikawa (Beckford, 2010).
Awards and Achievements: Kaoru Ishikawa was the recipient of many awards during his lifetime and recognition of his work has continued after his death in 1989. Among his highest prizes are the: * American Society for Quality’s Eugene L. Grant award in 1972. * Blue Ribbon Medal from the Japanese Government. * American Society for Quality’s Walter A. Shewhart Medal in1988. * Second Order of the Sacred Treasure award from the Emperor of Japan. * In 1993, after his death in 1989, the Asian Pacific Quality Organization named the Harrington-Ishikawa Medal after him to recognize a quality professional who has made a substantial contribution to the promotion of quality programs and methods in the Asian Pacific.
Ishikawa has been credited with writing 647 articles and 31 books, including two that were translated into English: Introduction to Quality Control and What Is Quality Control? The Japanese Way.

Philosophies: Kaoru Ishikawa believed that quality improvement can always be taken one step further. He wanted to change the way people think about work. He challenged management to not be content to merely improve a products quality but rather to seek continuous improvement. Ishikawa defined quality as meaning “not only the quality of the product, but also after the sales service, quality of management, the company itself and the human being”(Beckford, 2010.). This formed the basis for his concept of Company-Wide Quality. He advocated collecting and analyzing factual data using simple visual tools, statistical techniques, and teamwork as the foundations for implementing total quality (Evans & Lindsay, 2011). Some key elements of his philosophy are summarized below: * Quality begins with education and ends with education. * The first step in quality is to know the requirements of customers. * The ideal state of quality control occurs when inspection is no longer necessary. * Remove the root cause, not the symptoms. * Quality control is the responsibility of all workers and all divisions. * Do not confuse the means with the objectives. * Put quality first and set your sights on long-term profits. * Marketing is the entrance and exit of quality. * Top management must not show anger when facts are presented by subordinates. * Ninety-five percent of problems in a company can be solved with simple tools for analysis and problem solving.
Data without dispersion information (i.e., variability) are false data (Evans & Lindsay, 2011). Ishikawa also drew on and expounded on principals from other quality leaders, including those of W. Edwards Deming, creator of the Plan-Do –Check-Act model. Ishikawa expanded Deming’s four step model into six steps: ("Kaoru ishikawa: The," 2012)

* Determine goals and targets. * Determine methods of reaching goals. * Engage in education and training. * Implement work. * Check the effects of implementation. * Take appropriate action. Deming’s bottom up view of quality improvement was used by Ishikawa to create the “fishbone” or Ishikawa diagram discussed later in this paper. Ishikawa also showed the importance of the seven quality tools: control chart, run chart, histogram, scatter diagram, Pareto chart, and flowchart to improve quality. Ishikawa has been called the “Father of Quality Circles” and as a founder of the Japanese quality movement. He felt that the intended purpose was to: * Support the improvement and development of the company. * Respect human relations in the workplace and increase job satisfaction. * Draw out employee potential (Swinton, 2004).
This concept began as an experiment to see what effect the” leading hand” (Gemba-cho) would have on quality ("Kaoru ishikawa,”) Quality circles were Ishikawa’s principle method for achieving participation. They comprise between four and twelve workers from the same area of activity and are led by a workman or supervisor. Their function is to identify local problems and recommend solutions. There has been some discussion, even among some of Ishikawa’s peers, that quality circles may not be as effective in western cultures. Ishikawa stressed that with the commitment by management along with properly trained workers as willing participants; the concept will work and ensure that quality circles do not simply descend into complaint sessions. Ishikawa believed strongly that all workers must be involved in quality improvement and that teams provided the greatest avenue to participation. People’s ability to offer suggestions to improve processes and products would be maximized by providing training in basic problem solving techniques. A simple concept today, but it was unique at the time. Finally, we come to the technique that originated with Ishikawa; the “fishbone” or “Ishikawa Diagram”. Also known as a Cause and Effect diagram, this tool lets the user see all the possible causes for any given result, and hopefully identify the root process of imperfections, thereby allowing quality improvement to be driven from a bottom up philosophy as advocated by Deming’s
("Kaoru ishikawa,”). Ishikawa developed the approach while at the University of Tokyo, to explain relationships between factors. It became part of his quality tools portfolio and has been adopted throughout industry as a TQM tool. The diagram places the goal or objective at the head of the fish with the contributing factors categorized then sub-divided as needed until the whole issue of concern is explored (Beckford, 2010). Both Ishikawa and Deming use this diagram as one of the first tools in the quality management process.

Conclusion: Ishikawa believed that quality could do more than transform manufacturing – it could improve our quality of life (Watson, 2004). Ishikawa’s worldwide reputation and the widespread acceptance of his ideas suggest that his approach has met with considerable success. Upon Ishikawa’s 1989 death, Juran delivered this message: “There is so much to be learned by studying how Dr. 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.” (Stephens, 2002). Ishikawa’s drive to always take quality improvement a step further guarantees his status among his contemporaries ("Kaoru ishikawa,”). Like them, he was dedicated to seek continuous improvement.

References:
Beckford, J. (2010). Quality: An introduction. Routeledge.
Swinton, L. (2004). Dr. kaoru ishikawa- quality circles.
Watson, G. (2004). The legacy of ishikawa. Best of Quality, Retrieved from http://www.asq.org
Stephens, K. S. (2002). The life of kaoru ishikawa. International Academy for Quality, 13, 187. Retrieved from http://www.asq.org.
(2012). Kaoru ishikawa: The man behind the fishbone diagram. Retrieved from www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/ishikawa.asp
(n.d.). Kaoru ishikawa. Retrieved from http://www.mangurus.com/sections/gurus

Evans, J. R., & Lindsay, W. M. (2011). Managing for quality and performance excellence. (8th ed.). Mason, Ohio: Thomas South-Western.
Smith, J. L. (2006, 10 06). Management: The lasting legacy of the modern quality giants. DOI: faceofquality@qualitymag.com