If you ask most people where the modern quality management system (EQMS) originated, they'll probably point you to the Toyota Production System, considered the foundation of lean manufacturing.
But while Toyota might be one of the biggest names associated with quality management and early quality management systems, its true history is more complex.
Today's post looks at the history of quality management and evolution of quality management systems, from the early days through its modern incarnation and the future trajectory of electronic quality management systems (eQMS).
The birth of quality management principles
The roots of quality management go back to the guild system in medieval times, with master craftsman status representing higher quality goods and services. Fast-forward to the industrial revolution, where quality evolved to focus on factory inspections and removal of defective goods.
In 1911, mechanical engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor published The Principles of Scientific Management. Taylor was one of the first to systematically study manufacturing efficiency.
In 1924, Western Electric engineer Walter Shewhart proposed a method for statistical quality control. Enter W. Edwards Deming, considered by many the father of quality management. Deming successfully applied Shewhart’s methods to war manufacturing during World War II, where statistical process control helped the armed forces speed up inspections without sacrificing safety.
Once the war and government contracts ended, many American managers put aside statistical quality control processes. This frustrated Deming, who found a receptive audience for his ideas for a modern quality management system in Japan.
The post-war quality revolution
After the devastation of the war, Japan needed a way to rebuild its economy. Leaders there decided to focus on quality and brought in American experts like Deming and engineer Joseph Juran, who had also worked on statistical sampling at Western Electric.
Deming was a proponent of Shewhart's ideas and developed a methodology he called the Shewhart cycle of plan-do-study-act that's the basis for the modern plan-do-check-act cycle in most any current quality management system.
The work of Deming and Juran ushered in a quality revolution in Japan. In the decades that followed, manufacturers continued to refine quality management methods and went beyond inspection to focus on strategies that also incorporated processes and people for an end-to-end quality management system.
Throughout the '50s and '60s, Japan's quality focus allowed manufacturers to produce increasingly higher-quality goods at lower prices. Toyota developed the Toyota Production System during this period to minimize inventory and waste. This development represents one of the earliest modern forms of a quality management system.
Over this time, the post-war economic boom had given consumers more power than ever. As the market became increasingly crowded, it was no longer enough to just make a product or slap a "new and improved" label on it. Companies had to make consumers happier to win their dollars, which shifted the focus toward customer satisfaction.
Quality competition forces big changes
By the 1970s, Japan was outcompeting the U.S. in automobiles and electronics manufacturing. Experts like Juran had predicted this trend, yet it still took many companies by surprise.
For the most part, American companies believed increased competition from Japan was related solely to lower prices. As consumers bought up Japanese goods, U.S. companies began losing market share, leading to cost-cutting and import restriction strategies. Not surprisingly, these methods did nothing to improve the quality of goods.
With the American economy suffering from its inability to compete on quality, U.S. corporate leaders stepped up. Total Quality Management emerged, which set the stage for quality and operational excellence strategies to flourish in the U.S.
In 1987, the International Organization for Standardization published the first official version of ISO 9000, which led to slow but steady adoption by American companies.
The evolution of quality in the 21st century
Whereas TQM was a major early force in quality management in the U.S., it has largely faded from view in recent decades in favor of newer approaches such as Six Sigma and lean manufacturing.
Where is quality management headed from here? What are some attributes of a next-generation QMS? A few big shifts stand out:
Integration: Technology makes it possible for companies to break down barriers between departments, which has been a foundational principle of a comprehensive quality management system. As companies move in this direction, they also integrate the quality management system with processes like safety and sustainability, which tie to customer satisfaction.
Big data: Today's QMS captures more data than ever, enabling predictive quality analytics and integration with business intelligence tools to build a competitive advantage.
Risk management: Companies realize that risk management and quality are inseparably linked. Risk awareness grows among quality managers, something reflected in the risk-based approaches recent iterations of ISO 9001 use and leading automated quality management systems incorporate.
We have come a long way in quality improvement. The question is how to build on that success. Regardless of how your company approaches it, data and statistical analysis remain the foundation of a leading quality management system.