Adam Smith writes, ‘By opening a more extensive market for whatever part of their produce of their labour may exceed the home consumption, it encourages them to improve its productive powers, and to augment its annual produce to the utmost, and thereby to increase the real revenue and wealth of the society.’
DEFINING IDEA…
Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skilful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.
~ WILLIAM A. FOSTER, US MARINE
He believed that as people became more and more specialised in particular tasks, a corresponding improvement in innovation and quality would follow. In truth, it didn’t always work out like this. During the years after World War II there was increased demand for US manufactured goods. Despite their improved ‘productive powers’, this increase in demand did not lead to improved quality. Instead, gig manufacturing became complacent and quality dropped.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the situation was very different. The war had devastated Japan and the Japanese needed to rebuild both production and their manufacturing reputation. In 1947, Douglas MacArthur and the US State Department sent W. Edward Deming to Japan to assist in this. Deming had worked with Walter Shewhart of the Bell Telephone Company during the 1930s. Shewhart had a theory: that product control could best be managed by statistics. Using this idea, Deming later developed a process that alerted managers of the need to intervene in the production process.
Japan was keen to improve its ‘productive powers’, listened intently to Deming and readily adopted his methodology. The focus on quality and craftsmanship naturally suited the Japanese cultural psychology for Deming’s philosophy went beyond statistical quality control and encouraged building quality into the product at all stages, a process which became known as ‘Kaizen’ and is still used today in many Japanese companies, such as Toyota. Before the global crisis took off in 2007, Toyota’s attention to quality and process efficiency made them hard to beat. In December 2008, the same company stunned the car industry by predicting their first operating loss for seventy-one years. This shock announcement indicated the severity of the economic downturn because if Toyota, one of the most efficient car manufacturers in the world, could not make money then what chance did the others have?
In 1960, Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, acting on behalf of Emperor Hirohito, awarded Dr Deming Japan’s Order of the Sacred Treasure. The citation on the medal recognises Deming’s contribution to the country’s industrial rebirth and its worldwide success. By the early 80s Japanese products, particularly automobiles and electronic products, were far superior in quality to those created in the US. Today Japan remains world-famous for its manufacturing prowess. With the help of W. Edward Deming, Japan was able to ‘augment its annual produce to the utmost’ and make a significant difference to the wealth and prosperity of the nation.
HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU…
If you run a business, stay focused on quality. Test the systems in your own business at least once every six months. Call your business anonymously and place an order. How long did it take to arrive, what condition was it in? Step into your customers’ shoes and test your own business to highlight areas where quality improvement would be beneficial.