Emphases of Japanese total quality management in the 1980s

Abstract

The activities of company-wide quality control in Japan are wide ranging from policy deployment and internal QC audit to the QC circle of activities in the workshop. It also covers the job enlargement of employees and quality assurance in the process of new product development. Japan lacks natural resources, and her population density is virtually the highest in the world. The energy crises caused heavy blows to her economy, and due to the recent strong Japanese yen, export-oriented industries are faced with serious problems. However, these problems have also helped to increase Japanese economic strength. The major fields of importance described in the present paper are: (1) Establishment of long- and short-term plans. (2) Branching out into foreign countries and co-operation. (3) Expansion into new fields. (4) Development of new products and technology.