INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION

8） Quality Assurance

 

 

 

“Quality Assurance” in Japan started  
with the Industrial Standardization Act in 1949.

The commonly known indication of “JIS Certification Mark.”


Established as:

Permission of JIS certification mark indication occurs
when a product passes JIS standards,
on evaluating that internal standards are implemented,
manufacturing and inspection systems are available as stipulated in JIS,
and that the quality level will be continuously maintained by statistical means.


To put this quality assurance into practice, 
“Quality management movement” started,
triggered by the Japan visit of Dr. Deming in 1950.

The basic principle of this movement
is the well known:

“PDCA”

Running this PDCA cycle in management
may have suited the Japanese people’s industriousness,
and was applied and developed at various workplaces.

Largely effective was this,
used in practice at a wide range of companies in Japan.
Even beyond expectations by Dr. Deming who systematized and spread this idea


Let’s review it a little bit. 

Plan→Do→Check→Action

This principle can be applied in different portions:
From “large PDCA”s for the whole organization
to task-level “small PDCA”s for each worker.

And this has become the foundation
of how standards other than quality, 
“Management System Standards” and “Environment Management,” works.

The cycle does not complete in one round.
The process of “Plan, Do, Check, Action” is passed on to the next “Plan.”

“Continuous Improvement”

This is what makes the difference. 


Enough of this textbook explanation.
Next issue, we will look at specific cases regarding “PDCA”
to give you a better understanding.

                              to be continued…