A Quality Leader
Introduction Dr. Karoru Ishikawa is one of the world’s idolized leaders in quality control. His famous quote” Through total quality control with the participation of all employees, including the president, any company can create better products (or service) at a lower cost, increase sales, improve profit and make the company into a better organization" ( Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa) . Ishikawa joined the Union of Japanese Scientist and Engineers, a quality research group back in 1949. The Japanese was concerned about their industry sector since it was known that American manufacturing was producing cheap toys and defective cameras. This group took on the responsibility of Japan’s quality-improvement; that was when Ishikawa took the initiative to build on Feigenbaum’s concept of total quality and promoted greater involvement by all employees, from the top management to the front-line staff, by reducing reliance on quality professionals and quality departments. He advocated collecting and analyzing factual data using simple visual tools, statistical techniques, and teamwork as the foundations for implementing total quality. Like others, Ishikawa believed that quality begins with the customer and therefore, understanding customers’ needs is the basis for improvement, and that complaints should be actively sought.(Evans, 2010 pg 110)
Background Kaoru Ishikawa was born in 1915 in Tokyo. He graduated from Tokyo University in 1939 with a degree in Applied Chemistry. In his brief tour in the military as a Naval Technical Officer In charge of 600 workers to construct a factory he quoted “This experience he says was invaluable to Quality Control activities later on.”, (Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa) He worked for Nissan Liquid Fuel Company from 1941-1947 before he was appointed associate Professor of the University of Tokyo. In 1949 He joined the Union of Japanese Scientist and Engineers because he wanted to change the way people