2.1 The genesis of ISO 9000
Quality, in times when production lines and large volumes of repetitive work did not exist, was provided by self inspection, i.e., the individual who performed the task (whether production or service) inspected and felt responsible for what he did. He planned what he had to do, decided how it was to be done, employed and trained any workers he needed and inspected what they did. Quality was assured by him.
Early this century, an American engineer, Frederick W. Taylor, changed this concept. He separated workers from quality and started the concept of quality inspection at the end of production (Juran, 1994). This led to a dramatic increase in output, albeit not all of which was of acceptable quality. In the 1920s, Ford Motors introduced mass production on their production line system. The effect was production of waste - a certain amount of quality failures were accepted by producers, and this was accepted as the price of quality. More than required was produced to accommodate failures. In time, central inspection, or quality, departments were created. Meanwhile, as this was happening in the USA , Japan was known to be a producer of cheap, unreliable goods.
During World War II, mass production became the order of the day to help military effort in Europe, Japan and the USA . Military standards had to be applied to civilian production centres that supplied the forces. Although some training and techniques were imparted to these production centres, the emphasis remained on mass production and the aim remained to overcome the destructive capabilities of the enemy. Paramount need was for reliable working armament (although continued discovery of unexploded ordnance indicates that this was not strictly achieved!)
When the war ended, pressure for quality products was kept up by the military on their suppliers. In the USA the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) was formed. This was based on the training given by the War Production Board (WPB) to the industrial sector. ASQC provided a forum for those attending to share views, and voice problems experienced in their work, with others in the same field. Ideas generated could then be carried back and implemented in the work place.
Japan had suffered a mighty defeat and had no resources. The country already had a reputation for poor quality products and the war had not brought any sympathy from the world. Japanese companies acted through the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) and Japanese Federation of Economic Organisations and invited J.M. Juran and W.E. Deming to lecture them on quality improvement. In addition, they sent teams abroad to learn from foreign companies how they implemented quality. While Juran and Deming had also lectured in America on quality improvement, the Japanese were quick to see the benefits of their ideas and implemented them (Juran, 1994). The results have been seen by the world in the last four decades. The Japanese have been constantly improving quality in their products and the country has become an economic superpower. This has made the rest of the world, particularly the west, take a close look at what Japan is doing and try to do the same in their own countries. The last decade has seen a powerful growth of quality awareness both in the industrial and academic fields in the west.
Manufacturing was the first to systematise quality because, basically, the quality revolution was designed for that sector; the Ford Motor Company, for instance, developed their own Q101 standard. Benefits were soon seen by other organisations and Quality Systems caught on.
The need to study Japanese management systems was felt in academic circles. Soon, Japanese systems of kanban , jidoka , gembushi , kaizen , etc. were being taught. Schools of Japanese Studies came into existence in many institutes of higher education to try and understand the Japanese miracle.
In the UK , the Ministry of Defence produced the 05 series of quality standards which were adopted by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries (NATO) for use within the forces as well as to be applied to their suppliers/sub-contractors. Other industries devised their own standards and a number of quality systems were generated. To control this proliferation, the British Standards Institute (BSI) developed the military 05 series into the BS 5750 series parts 1, 2 and 3 in 1979. These were adopted by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) in 1987 and published as the ISO 9000 series of standards. The standards are generic and are designed to be applied to any industry. Today, BS 5750 has given way to ISO 9000, which is recognised as the international standard.
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