The Implementation of Quality Control Circle Concepts Into American Industry

In light of the growing worldwide competition among industrial manufacturers as developing nations become more technologically viable, it becomes imperative that we, as a nation, become more conscious than ever of quality and productivity. Our most serious competitors, the Japanese, have developed a nationwide sense of quality consciousness and have evolved a management and manufacturing system to achieve their goals of superior quality that is currently unrivaled. One important element of their productive system is the concept of Quality Control (QC) circles; generally described as a problem solving group of working people, who as members of a team, identify, solve, and implement solutions to work-related problems. Circles have served to tap a vast reservoir of energy, productivity, and ingenuity among the Japanese workforce, aiding them in their quest for manufacturing and quality superiority. We must learn more about these circles, what they are, how they operate, what they can do for us, and how we, as a nation can apply them to our manufacturing problems. They have already been successfully transplanted into America by many firms and are achieving excellent gains in productivity, quality, and worker-management relations