Quality Control Circles

My first Productivity newsletter June, 1980 described the importance of Quality Control Circles (QCC). The circle was designed by Kaoru Ishikawa and virtually every Japanese company implemented the process getting all workers into small problem solving teams. Each team normally was a work group with less then 10 people.

Prior to the circles, quality information was in the hands of the quality manager whose job was to maintain quality standards. To obtain high quality products it was necessary to have all workers become self-inspectors of their quality. It was impossible for the quality manager to maintain high standards on their own. But through Ishikawa's instructions the knowledge of the quality manager was taught to all workers. The workers were taught how to use the quality tools:

1. Cause-and-effect diagram (also called Ishikawa or fishbone chart): Used to brainstorm and classify possible causes of problems and their solutions.
2. Check sheet: Used by workers to check off every error or problem found.
3. Control charts: Graphs used to study how a process changes over time.
4. Histogram: A graph to show frequency distributions.
5. Pareto chart: A bar graph to show the most significant problems.
6. Scatter diagram: To look for relationships.
7. Stratification: A technique that separates data gathered from a variety of sources so that patterns can be seen.

All the above were tools originally used by the quality managers.

The work teams would normally address two or three major problems a year and the teams would meet during their breaks, at lunch or before or after work. Periodically, maybe twice a year, the teams would present their results to senior management.

QCC was a wonderful way to show respect to workers and to get them involved in problem solving activities. Through circle activities quality dramatically improved.

I need your help. Still today after more then 40 years since QCC started in Japan, every Japanese company that I visited this past year has circle activities going. Why did the quality movement in America die?

Finding Great Masters

My little talent these past thirty years has been to find the great masters of Productivity and Quality improvement and bring out their ideas for others to learn and put into practice.

In June 1980, in my first Productivity newsletter, we wrote:
"From 'Junk Merchant of the World' to a nation known for high quality -- how did Japan do it? Quality Control Circles could be the answer. Workers meet usually one hour a week to solve problems that affect their jobs. The results make QC circles worth looking at closely."

Of course, we subsequently learned that QC circles was an important but only a small part of the Japanese miracle.

In 1980, Wayne Ricker, with no restrictions, allowed me to be the first to write and publish in America a series of articles on Quality Control Circles (QCC). QCC is still practiced at virtually every major Japanese company to gain involvement from all employees on solving those challenging problems around them. Fundamental to QCC is teaching the workers the basic quality tools and having them apply them at their job site.

In the future, on my web site, I will be re-reviewing QCC with the hope that you also will re-consider using this technique to gain more participation from your workers in solving problems around their work area. I will once again share with you the QCC tools and techniques.


In the August 1980 Productivity newsletter, we reviewed a book "How to Win Productivity in Manufacturing" by Wm. E. Sandman with John P. Hayes.

"Orders in waiting represent idle work-in-process (WIP). 'Reduce this waiting time and you will increase your profits and productivity."

"When an order spends 95% of its time waiting and only 5% being worked on, ... there is no balance between materials and labor."

"When you increase the speed of cash flow, you increase productivity."

...........Waiting
Time .. Queue Time
|——|————————————————————|
5% ..... 95%

Honestly, it took me years to learn the power of this very simple diagram. The heart of Lean we subsequently learned, comes from eliminating wastes to improve the value adding ratio. We had this back in 1980 but did not really understand it well enough at the time.

On my web site, I want to review with you on a regular basis my learning from the past, putting all the marvelous things I found into a proper perspective but I also want to reveal the powerful concepts that keep coming to me. In April, I spent time with Shigehiro Nakamura, Zenji Kosaka, Ryuji Fukuda, Noriaki Kano, Bunji Tozawa and Ritsuo Shingo (Dr. Shigeo Shingo's son). Each just poured new information into me that I hope will prove very beneficial for your improvement efforts.

So please tell others about my new site and do come back often.