Chapter 15
The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa created numerous new concepts as well as various proposals.
He worked hard with fellow professors to realize those proposals. In order to reveal his
entire work, it would require years of research conducted from a professional standpoint,
thus it is impossible to fully describe all of it within this book. Some of his researches
are introduced here based on the Publication List at the end of this book. As regards QC
circle, internationalization, sampling, and industrial standardization, please refer tochapters from 10 to 14. References are shown in the chronological table and thereference number at the end of the book. Reference number that begins with B means abook, and in this case, the page to be cited is also shown.

15.1

Special Features of Dr. Ishikawa’s Writings

The results of Dr. Ishikawa’s research about quality control and other fields havebeen released through books, papers, slides, videos, Japan Industrial Standards (JIS),ISO standards and other media. Here are some special features of his work that we
found from a list attached at the end of this book as an appendix.
1.
2.
3.
4.

A huge number of works (2 pieces per month for 40 years)
A wide range of contents (from the concept to the method of quality control)
Many works published in foreign languages (16 languages, 139 pieces)
Clear guidelines for the possibility of future trends

Let us look at the details of these features below.
(1) A huge number of works

The sheer amount of his work reaches almost 800 pieces. As for books, we countonly the first edition, and in regard to papers, we count those released with the same

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

title as one.
Books

31 (Revised and enlarged edn. 11, Translated edn. 32)

Papers, Articles
Forewords, Essays, etc.
SlidesVideosJIS
ISO standards

517 (Total serial articles 64)
129
48
26
62 (Revised items 50)
7

If we add the figures in the parenthesis, such as the revised and enlarged editions,translations, the serial articles and the JIS revised items, the total figure would be morethan 950. The majority of them were published, while the rest of them, such as thefollowing, were not published nor included in the count.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Articles for campus newsletters, corporate in-house newsletters, etc.
Presentation materials which were not published as a collection of papers.
Textbooks for seminars
Reports compiled at government committees and academic conferences.

I compiled these works according to the list of books and papers written by Dr.
Ishikawa. In so doing, I found and added many of his works that had not previously
been included. Probably, he was so busy writing that he could not list all of them eventhough he was an enthusiastic record-taker. During the compilation of this book, making
the list as well as making the chronological record took longer time than any of theother parts. I tried to make the list complete but I am afraid there are still missing pieces.
If we include them, the total figure would be easily over 1000. In the course of about
forty years of his engagement in quality control until his death (1949 – 1989), he wrote
all the works except for one (No. 513 in the list, 1944). It means that he kept writing atleast 25 pieces a year, or 2 pieces a month on average, for as long as forty years. As the“2 pieces a month” included some thick books, we easily understand that he did write
an enormous amount of work. Needless to say, he spent a long time writing these manypieces. On top of that, he spent considerable time researching or investigating what towrite beforehand. He was really like a Superman.

384

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa(2) A wide range of contents

31 books that he wrote can be classified by content as shown below.
Quality Control
QC Circle
Quality Assurance
Quality Control Method
Sampling
Implementation of Industrial Standardization

13
5
2
7
2
2

As for the 517 papers, they can be classified as shown below.
Quality Control Concept
Japanese Quality Control
Management and Quality Control
Quality Assurance
Quality Control and Organizational Management
QC Circle

35
38
58
93
56
58

International Problems of Quality Control
50
Quality, Reliability, Safety, Product Liability (28)
Quality Assurance Systems(49)
Environment / Pollution(16)
Quality Control Method
46
TQC Promotion by Industry
23
Sampling
40
Implementation of Industrial Standardization
14
High Pressure Coal Molding
6
From the above analysis, we can see how broad the contents he covered were,
including the concept and method of quality control, QC Circle, sampling, international
problems and the implementation of industrial standardization.
(3) Many works are published in foreign languages

Among his works, in addition to one he wrote in English by himself, as many as 32
385

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

were translated into 12 languages.
English Version (Written by himself 1, Translated 5)

6

Portuguese Version
Chinese Version
French Version
Spanish Version
Dutch Version
Indonesian Version
Italian Version
Marathi Version
Hebrew Version
Korean Version
Slovenian Version

5
5
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1

The number of his papers/articles, forewords/essays and slides published in foreign
languages are shown in the following Table 15.1. The total figure reaches 108 in 11
languages. If the translations are included, the figure increases to 139 in 16 languages.
Table 15.1 Papers and other works in foreign languages
Published Paper

EnglishChinese

1. Concept of Quality Control

81

2. Japanese Quality Control

115

3. Management and Quality
Control

2

6

4. Organizational Management

61

5. QC Circle

122

6. International Problems

35

7. Quality Assurance

42

8. Quality Control Method

2

9. Sampling, Analysis

10

KoreanFrenchOthers4German 1, Spanish 1,
Polish 1, Czech 1

Research Paper / Article

Portuguese 1
1

Russian 1

2

Foreword, Essay, etc.
1. Quality control related

5

Slide

6
Total

69

Italian 1

23

386

4

5

7
Grand Total 108

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa(4) Clear guidelines for the possibility of future trends

Dr. Ishikawa had great foresight. He thought about globalization as early as theperiod right after World War II. Moreover, he had already asserted the importance of QC
for design when they only started to get good results from efforts on reducing productfailures at genba (workplaces). Meanwhile, he picked up and summarized somepossible future trends. In addition, he involved many people by asking about the themesin magazines or at QC Conferences/Symposiums. Of course, all the themes he chose did
not always turn out as he planned. However, because he raised such a theme, it
preempted problems for many people who were enabled to prepare for the newcircumstances to come.
I did not have the chance to hear directly from Dr. Ishikawa about how heproactively spotted new trends, but, during the process of compiling this chapter, I think
I found three points. First, the experiences and observations that he obtained fromoverseas business trips would have been very helpful until the early 1970s. But he did
not introduce what he saw overseas as secondhand information. Instead, he considereduntil he fully understood what he saw, reorganized it and then introduced it to us. The
development of new products and product liability are examples. Taking
cross-functional management as an example, you might think that it was derived fromthe ideas he got during his stay in the United States. Judging from the visit of many
American experts for studying cross-functional management, it is clear that Dr.
Ishikawa did not just pass it on and introduce it to us. Second, a lot of information hereceived was from his strong curiosity for something new and from his extensive
contacts. Third, it must also have been his keen interest in what was going on in theworld. I will not forget that he always read a newspaper from cover to cover andorganized the clippings by content.
(Noriaki Kano)

15.2

Proposal by Dr. Ishikawa(1) Thought revolution in management, Management with respect for humanity

Taking QC not only as a tool of quality control, but also as a tool for corporate
management, Dr. Ishikawa had consistently asserted its importance.
“I thought proper implementation of QC ... can bring about restructuring of
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PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

the management style of the company and a thought revolution in management.”(1981, [B9], p. 3)
We can clearly see the essence in his works written both in his early and later
years.
“It is a new quality control that would bring an industrial revolution to the
management style or organization in our country.” (1954, [B1], p. 1)“I have worked for a coal liquefaction company for about 8 years after
graduation from the Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering,
the University of Tokyo in 1939. During the period, I had a two-year working
experience as an Imperial Navy officer. I was wondering why Japanesecompanies and societies were doing such strange things. When I studied quality
control, I started to believe that proper implementation of quality control could
correct these strange things, or in other words, could bring improvement incorporate structure or thought revolution in management. I have persistently
strived for implementation of quality control with this idea.” (1980, [60])How did he reach the idea? As shown in the Section 8.3 above, I suppose that his
father Ichiro affected his way of thinking.
He saw management as follows:“Focusing on the management of human resources, if you properly andcomprehensively control the big three management factors: quality, cost (profit)and quantity, the management would be enhanced.” (1964, [B1], p. 56)“Since a company exists in a human society, the primary goal should focus
on the people related to the company (consumers, employees and their families,
stockholders, people concerned about subcontracting and logistics), enablingthem to fulfill their potential happily.” (1980, [60])In this way, he had asserted the importance of management with respect forhumanity.
“Humanity is a human being who can act with independence, of his own
will, and spontaneity, distinguished from animal, machine, or human being, not388

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

doing just because he is told to do it. Humanity also means a human being who
deliberates using his head. Humanity leads the management which makes display
the infinite abilities of human being.” (1980, [60])This idea has also been known as “the Industrial Democracy.” Judging from thefact that many excellent American companies have tried to take this aspect into their
management, Dr. Ishikawa’s point was really essential for management. He also pointed
out that Quality (Q), Cost (C) and Delivery (Quantity) (D) were the secondary targets toachieve this corporate purpose, and called them as “secondary targets for goodmanagement.”(Hiroshi Osada, Noriaki Kano)(2) Company-wide quality control/Anti-professionalism

In Europe and in the United States, the idea of quality professionalism, only
experts in quality that is the inspection department or quality control department had to
be in charge of quality matters, was prevailing. Since Dr. Ishikawa had doubts aboutthat idea (1981, [B9], p. 33), he insisted company-wide quality control withparticipation of all employees from a manager to a worker (as indispensable workers.).
“In regard to quality control, top management should be responsible for
quality of its products and set it as its corporate policy. It could succeed only if all
employees, including middle management, engineers, employees engaging inclerical work and workers/operators, were involved in it. Even if a few engineers
study and make efforts on it, it would not succeed. What we need for the successare understanding, passion and action from the top management.
In order to carry out quality control with all employees together, we mustenhance human relations. In other words, it is necessary to build a company-wide
collaborative structure.” (1964, [B1], p. 15)
We can see that this is an original Japanese point in quality control by comparing ateaching report of Dr. Joseph M. Juran and a summary of Dr. Juran’s lecture written by
Dr. Ishikawa.
“Dr. Juran reached the following conclusion after returning from a plant
visit in Japan.
1. Japanese companies seemed to try to implement quality control
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PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

through the organizational structures. In this way, the training of quality
control would be necessary in the workplaces. Furthermore, the factory needs
to reinforce the relation between all departments.
However, if we left the quality control to the workplace, they would notunderstand the importance of quality problems. Therefore they care only about
their own workplace and have a bias against quality control, then engineers in
the workplace waste time on spending pointless matter. ... It is a problem that
we assign engineers in workplaces. ... We should reconsider about this. (Therest omitted.)” (Chuuzou Kamio (1954), “Dr. Juran 4. Visiting Company &Plant ... Nippon Steel Pipe,” Hinshitsu Kanri (Statistical Quality Control), Vol.
5, No.8, pp. 400–401)“Dr. Juran said that quality control should be implemented by the quality
control department. On the other hand, the Japanese experts said that it shouldbe implemented by the engineering department or by engineers at theworkplace with the cooperation of the quality control department if necessary.”(1954, [134])
Dr. Ishikawa first summarized his thoughts about the entire quality control in Japan,
probably triggered by the report which was compiled with the purpose of introducing
quality control of Japan on the occasion of that the delegation (Head: Mr. Noboru
Yamaguchi, Deputy Head: Dr. Ishikawa) was dispatched to the USA by Japan
Productivity Center in January 1958. This report is a good source to know the
implementation of quality control in Japan at the time.
“At the company which introduced the quality control concept at an earlystage, a quality control activity has already been initiated around 1952
throughout the company, not only in the quality control department but also in
logistics, sales, engineering and other departments. At the same time, the top
management began the guidance of quality control as a part of business
management.” (1958, [37], (1))
From an early period, Dr. Ishikawa had insisted that quality control must be carriedout within the entire company. He conveyed the following idea in an essay: “Total
Management and QC” printed on the back of the front cover of the magazine Hinshitsu
Kanri (Statistical Quality Control).
390

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa“I hope quality control in Japan should be carried out as quality control inthe broad sense or total quality control combining with cost and sales quantity,
not as so-called in the narrow sense in Dr. Juran’s way.” (1956, [4])“The fundamental principle of quality control, is to produce and sell what
consumers want. This principle is exactly business management.” (1956, [4])He also mentioned the influence of Dr. Juran against the movements of total
quality control.
“Such movements became more active, triggered by Dr. Juran’s lecture aspreviously stated.” (1958, [37], (1))
We are not sure where the word “company-wide quality control” came from. He
mentioned as follows:“We tend to understand the words like company-wide quality control, total
quality control or QC in a broad sense, etc. in our own convenience from thepast in Japan. The word of QC is significant. Therefore it is natural to define
the same meaning as I mentioned above.” (1960, [78])Judging from his statement above, the word: “company-wide quality control” wasalready used before the 1960s. He also showed his idea of the definition in thefollowing manner.
“With a series of market researches and customers’ surveys, a consistentquality control is required to make up a system that will bring about goodfunctioning in all departments, every employee from a president to a janitor,
not only front line like designing, procurement (materials), inspection and sales,
but also staff such as research, engineering, warehouse and logistics, design for
manufacturing, equipment, maintenance, accounting and general affairs. In aword, every employee will start thinking of what his role is to improve quality.”(1960, [78])(Noriaki Kano)

391

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us(3) Dr. Ishikawa’s “company-wide quality control”

Dr. Ishikawa described the image of “company-wide quality control” in his own
concept shown in the Figure 15.1 below. As shown in the figure, the circle of quality
control lies the most outward based on the control PDCA, while the circle of quality
assurance or QC on new product development lies at the center. This idea was written in
his book (1964, [B1], p. 57). QC Circle overlaps the three circles and all of themcomprise TQC. It is commonly said that the ultimate purpose of TQC is quality
assurance. Dr. Ishikawa had especially focused on quality assurance for new productdevelopment which was the upstream point of quality assurance.
(Hiroshi Osada)Control (PDCA)
Quality Control
Quality

品質保証
Assurance
新製品開発
QC on New
ProductのQC

Development

QC Circle

Figure 15.1 What is company-wide quality control? (1981, [B9], p. 130)
(4) Timely quotes

Dr. Ishikawa promoted quality control with a number of suitable quotes for eachperiod.
Against trade liberalization policy announced by the Japanese government in 1960,
Dr. Ishikawa asserted, “Introduce quality control for trade liberalization.” (1960, [81])He insisted that introduction and promotion of quality control was the best way for theindustrial world, which was very intoxicated with free trade.
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Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

In the middle of the 1960s, he created the following two quotes:“Secure Profits by Quality Control” (1966, [87])“Quality Control and Customer’s Benefit” (1966, [14])The first one was presented to the management level who thought that the
introduction of QC was difficult due to the effect of lowering the economic growth in
1965. Meanwhile, the second one was directed to the people who claimed that securing
profits ignored the consumer benefits.
He refuted, “Since the basic principle of QC is to produce what customers arewilling to buy with pleasure, QC will lead to increase sales and company’s profits.
Profits of a company will not be a concern if you understand QC well.” (1966, [14])Also, he asserted “To sell high quality products at high prices” against “to sellgood products at low prices” many years ago, with the example of the dumping exportsof Japanese products. This voice was ahead of the times. (1966, [14])In the late 1960s, he made the following quotes:“Quality Control Toward the World” (1968, [93])“World Enterprise and QC — A Road to a World Enterprise” (1969, [98])On the purpose of accelerating the recognition of Japanese products’ quality
enhancement, he appealed for the importance of having a global vision to the Japanesecompanies which inclined to have a domestic-oriented view because of an insular spirit.
On the other hand, he also said the following quote to humble ourselves:“Have a look at the world as well as enhance your business fundamentals with
QC” (1968, [200])“Eliminate the drawback by utilizing Japanese Quality Control” (1969, [43])“Build an Affluent Society with Quality Control” (1971, [100])In the 1970s, these phrases were presented against the pollution problems.
In the 1980s, he stressed the importance of strengthening management in order tobuild a prosperous world through quality control in the trend of globalization. The
quotes at the time were as follows:“No borders for quality control. It is the management ability that will be in393

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Usquestion.” (1980, [115])“World Prosperity through Quality” (1982, [28])(Noriaki Kano)(5) Quality first, Quality to meet customer’s satisfaction

There has been a controversy over what “quality” means since olden times. Today,
it generally and globally means the same as “customer’s satisfaction.” He had asserted“quality to meet customer’s satisfaction” for a long time.
“When we talk about the ‘quality’ in terms of quality control, it means thequality to meet customer’s satisfaction.” (1954, [B1], p. 6)
He asserted that, QC needs to be implemented not only at the stage ofmanufacturing but at the stage of designing in order to realize this concept. Furthermore,he pointed out the need for improving quality in a broad sense,” which involves the cost,delivery and service, not the “quality in a narrow sense” which only deals with the
product quality. In short, the “total quality control” would be required.
“In order to produce a good quality product that customer is willing to buy, we
have to consider its quality, the balance with cost and the balance with quantity.
Especially in our country, this balance had not been understood. It is obvious that
we have to decide a quality based on this balance. With emphasizing on this point,
we could call it total quality control.” (1960, [78])In this way, he always thought about quality overlapping customer’s benefits. Later,
he continued to point it out by using the following word and phrases: “Quality Control
and Customer’s Benefit” (1966, [14]), “Consumerism” (1970, [20]) and “Consumers
and Quality Control” (1985, [31]).
In addition, he told us to realize “quality to meet customers’ satisfaction” as amanagement policy would lead the corporate profits in a long term, with the quote:“Quality first.”“If you pursue ‘quality first,’ the long-term profits will increase. On thecontrary, if you pursue the short-term profits, you would lose global competition394

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

and long-term profit.” (1980, [601])(Noriaki Kano)

15.3

Quality Assurance(1) The next process is our customer

At first, Dr. Ishikawa used the expression: “The next process is the consumer,
while the previous process is the producer.” (1954, [B1], p.9)
In order to realize “quality meets customers’ satisfaction,” he explained about who
should be responsible, and what should be done under what kind of guiding principle asfollows:“For example, at a steelmaker, the steel-making department would be a
producer to the rolling department, while the steel-making department would be a
consumer to the iron-making department which is the previous process. So, thesteel-making department would be responsible for making a product with quality tomeet the satisfaction of the next process, which is the rolling department. The
steel-making department would also be responsible for receiving an investigation
result on how the steel influences a product, frankly asking what the rolling
department’s requirements are, having a meeting with them and being responsible
to meet those requirements.” (1954, [B1], p. 9)
Later, Dr. Ishikawa changed the expression to “The next process is our customer.”(1981, [B9], p.51)(2) NPD (New Product Development) emphasized quality assurance

The modern concept of quality control was born in the United States around the1930s. Its approaches involved how we achieved a specific quality standard, whichmeant activities to reduce product failures, as the definition of the word “control”
showed. When the concept was introduced to Japan, it also became known as reducing
product failures. On this point, it was Dr. Juran’s lecture that made an initial impact,(Report of Dr. Juran’s lecture, JUSE, 1954) and Dr. Ishikawa wrote about it in a lecture395

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

summary (1954, [134]).
Looking back on the development of quality control, Dr. Ishikawa mentioned as
below:“We must conduct quality assurance from the new product development stage.
It was the late 1950s when this feeling was growing.” (1981, [B9], p. 27)
When he talked about quality control, he divided it into three stages:
inspection-emphasized quality assurance, process-control-emphasized quality assuranceand NPD emphasized quality assurance, and always emphasized the importance of the
NPD.
In the March 1957 issue of Hinshitsu Kanri (Statistical Quality Control), newproduct was a major topic in the QC course. The contents were only at a superficial
level compared to today’s. The aforesaid report for introducing the Japanese quality
control to the United States addressed a little bit about how to determine tolerance, but
it did not refer to new product development or designing at all (1958, [37]).
However, in the report compiled after returning from the States, he mentioned asfollows:“In my theory, quality control should start from a designing stage especially inthe electric or machine industry.” (1958, [248])
Furthermore, in 1964, he expressed his thoughts with more confidence as follows:“QC in new product development is one area where I have made my effort as
top priority because it is a key activity for a company to survive.” (1964, [38])In 1966, he organized a one-year lecture series under the theme of “Quality of
Design” in Hinshitsu Kanri (Statistical Quality Control) and wrote the articles byhimself (1986, [347], [349]).
Probably, it was from his visit to the United States as a member of an observationgroup in 1958, which triggered him to recognize the importance of a relationshipbetween new product development/designing and quality.

396Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa(3) True Quality Characteristic / Substitute Quality Characteristic

When we try to control the quality of a certain product, we first need to figure out
what is the quality characteristic. Dr. Ishikawa presented that we usually treat asubstitute quality characteristic in many cases, while a true quality characteristic exists
separately.
“What we need to focus on is the quality that customers really want. — We
call it a true quality, efficiency — and the first step of quality control is to find it.
On the other hand, purity or tensile strength, for example, is just a factor or a cause
to get a standard performance, which we call a substitute quality characteristic.”(1961, [B5], p. 5)
The quality table that many companies are now using emanated from this concept.
(4) Introduction of Reliability

In the aforementioned report for introducing the Japanese quality control, thearticle about reliability only referred to “life test” in the chapter of “QC in the electricindustry.” (1958, [37], (2))
However, the report published after the visit to the United States (1959, [B3];compiled mainly by Dr. Ishikawa and Prof. Karatsu) stressed its importance of
reliability in the State over eight pages.
The AGREE report that the observation group brought from the States later
became known as the bible. The outline was translated by Prof. Shiomi following the
instruction of Dr. Ishikawa, and was reported at the Ishikawa Research Group. In
October 1958, the reliability research committee was set up in JUSE, which was a startof thorough reliability research in Japan. Thus, we can see how significant the impact on
the development of Japanese product reliability that the mission to inspect brought.
Later, Dr. Ishikawa organized a series of articles about reliability in the magazine:
Hinshitsu Kanri (Statistical Quality Control) (1961, [298]). He also released thefollowing articles and papers on reliability:“Reliability in the United States” (1965, [253])“What is Reliability” (1965, [302])“Quality Assurance and Reliability” (1968, [303])
397

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us“Reliability and Quality Control” (1970, [307])“Reliability and Quality Control” (1971, [309])“Thoughts on Reliability” (1982, [321])“Quality and Reliability –Full Check of Quality–” (1983, [322])“Quality Control and Reliability / Maintainability” (1986, [323])
He strongly asserted that it is essential to proceed thinking about both quality
control and reliability comprehensively, not separately.
Note: Valuable information was given by Prof. Hiroshi Shiomi and Prof. Kazuyuki Suzuki
for this section.

(5) Introduction of Product Liability

When the phrase Product Liability (PL) was brought to Japan around the late 1960s,
it was not really properly understood at first. Dr. Ishikawa made intensive research on
product liability at the occasion of his visit to the United States and Europe as the headof the 7th QC Observation Team sent from JUSE in 1972. After returning from the visit,
he introduced the research result through his lectures, magazines articles, books and soon. This triggered many changes and activities about PL, such as setting up the PL
Research Committee in JUSE in October 1972 and sending the 1st PL Observation
Team (Head: Dr. Shigeru Mizuno) to the United States and Europe in 1973.
Dr. Ishikawa wrote about PL in his book (1973, [B19]), papers and articles (1973,[312], [314], [316]; 1974, [317], [318], [319]).
He presented the following 12 pieces of advice to pay attention to in dealing with
PL. Even 20 years later, they are still not obsolete.
“Clarify the safety problem. — Set up a PLP committee to raise awarenessabout safety.”“Check the technology for safety again. — Enhance the standard on productsafety.”“Conduct thorough trial tests in the process of new product development.
Never say ‘I couldn’t imagine the way that they used it.’”“We need to think about safety related to reliability. — Especially, top
management has the responsibility not to distribute unsafe products on the market.
We are seeing many new products brought on to the market even as they were still398

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

in-process without sufficient tests being done, because no products could be
shipped. Top management must have the absolute right to stop shipping unsafe
products. Otherwise, they would face a disaster.”“The data of parts and subassemblies including outsourced ones should beaccumulated and recorded in a computer by lot, so that we will be able to access theappropriate data as evidence.”“An actual product must correspond to its drawing.”“Create manual for work procedure, then perform the operation according themanual exactly. To provide a foolproof mechanism is important not to makedefective products. It will be also the good evidence in case of a lawsuit.”“In many companies, we are seeing ‘concession,’ which means giving ‘ok’ tothe products after some adjustment even though they were rejected in the inspection.
We must ensure the system of the ‘concession’ work without any problems.”“Failure analysis — More thorough analysis are necessary to identify failurecauses.”“Design Review — How detailed we test for safety in the process of new
product development.”“Review instruction manuals, advertisement, catalogue and others. — Putcustomers’ ‘Don’ts’ in a very big font.”“Take records of what could be evidence (Traceability). — We have toconsider to what extent data we should save. We cannot save infinite data. We haveto study the limit of a computer as well as how to operate a computer.”(6) Quality Analysis / Backward Looking Quality

As stated above, Dr. Ishikawa had emphasized his thought on “quality to meetcustomers’ satisfaction” for a long time. Meanwhile, he raised the question: “asystematic analysis on quality itself has not been conducted.” (1973, [357]) Then, hemade the proposal of “quality analysis.”“What would be the quality that consumers, societies, manufacturers, logistics
companies and others want? It is impossible to achieve quality satisfying all thedemands. However, we have to pursue the quality that consumers are willing tobuy.” (1973, [357])
He also suggested “forward looking quality” and “backward looking quality” as399

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

follows:“Failure analysis, one of the quality assurance processes, is very important, in
terms of not creating failures, defects and unsafe products as a manufacturer’s
responsibility. However, it is a conservative and passive quality analysis. Why don’t
we call it backward-looking quality? ” (1973, [357])“On the other hand, we have to think about the quality that consumers would
be happy with. I would like to call it aggressive, positive, strategic, or
forward-looking quality.” (1973, [357])
On that basis, he proposed “quality analysis.”“I would like to define quality analysis as making analysis on a productcomprehensively by covering both forward- and backward-looking quality.” (1973,[357])
By the time he obtained the idea of quality analysis, various things were brought
together and connected in his mind. For example, cause and effect diagram, the standard
rationalization committee (see Chapter 14), research of product and process capacitythat he saw in the States in 1958 (especially prototype testing), and a visit to the failure
analysis laboratory at Lockheed Corporation when he went to the States in 1972.
The following statement implies his expectation for quality analysis.
“In order to conduct real quality analysis in Japan, we have to conduct a
realistic quality analysis like the Lockheed Corporation does. But this analysis is
not enough. I want to suggest conducting further and broadly-interpreted quality
analysis including the quality that consumers and the world would be happy with.”(1973, [357])
Dr. Ishikawa was not really satisfied with the result of quality analysis movements
at the time, in spite of his enthusiasm of creating the new word. Therefore, in 1975, hechose the theme again as a feature article in the magazine Hinshitsu Kanri (Statistical
Quality Control).
“I chose the theme of quality analysis in 1973 and wrote the lecture articles for
one year in this magazine to help the QC-related people to think about it, however,400

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

it has not been well organized and still been insufficient. So, I decided to pick up
the theme again.” (1975, [364])
Later, in the quality control field, a system of new product development wasestablished based on “quality development.” Also, reliability activities were developed
based on “FMEA/FTA” or “failure analysis/reliability test.” Furthermore, the concept of“attractive quality/must-be quality” was born based on “forward- and backward-looking
quality.” Thus, today’s reputation of Japanese products which is high quality and highreliability has prevailed in the world market. And, Dr. Ishikawa’s pioneering idea was astart and a base of these movements. I wanted to ask him “Is today’s quality analysis
close enough to something you had imagined?”(Noriaki Kano, Shinsuke Furuya)

15.4

Management Concept(1) Process control with control chart: Build quality into the process

We can say that a control chart was well-received in the period of QC introduction
because of the 8-day program lectured by Dr. Deming, who came to Japan in 1950.
According to the lecture report (Lectures on Statistical Control of Quality, JUSE, 1950),
7 days out of 8 were spent on control chart, while the other 1 day was spent on samplinginspection. Dr. Ishikawa was also one of the editors and commentators for editing thelecture report. He must have received a huge impact from Dr. Deming.
Mr. H. F. Dodge was a friend of Dr. Deming. The lecture report introduced his
words as follows. “Quality of a certain product cannot be built only by inspection.”“Quality is something that has to be created.” These words emphasized the following
points:“Statistical control is not the removal of bad items, by inspection.”“Statistical control means building quality into the products, by achieving amaximum degree of uniformity in the production process.”
Dr. Ishikawa often said the words: “Build quality into the process.” This wasprobably influenced by the aforementioned idea of Dr. Deming’s.
One of his famous remarks is “Quality control starts with control chart and ends
401

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

with control chart.” In a list of his books are included the next two works concerning thecontrol chart.
Control Charts in Factory Management (Translation) (1953, [B21])
The Control Chart Method (Written & Edited), (1955, [B23]); (Revised Edition),(1962, [B23])
Moreover, control chart is explained over a lot of pages in the following works:
Introduction to Quality Control, (1st edition) (1954, [B1])Introduction to Quality Control (A) (2nd edition), (1964, [B1])Introduction to Quality Control (B) (1966, [B1])Introduction to Quality Control, (3rd edition) (1989, [B1])Dr. Ishikawa was the head of the Control Chart Research Group of the JUSE’squality control seminar (basic course). Thus, we can see how much he devoted hisenergy to control charts.
(2) Cause and Effect Diagram/Fishbone Chart, Godzilla Bone Chart, Ishikawa Diagram

Dr. Ishikawa wrote the 3 articles about how the cause and effect diagram was born(1965, [421]; 1968, [197]; 1969, [424]). Let’s look at his articles to find out how it wasborn and where the nicknames came from.
“First of all, we need to distinguish a goal or a target (effect) from a cause.
Then, I came up with the idea of visualizing in a diagram a relationship between thegoal or the target, which is the effect, and the cause in processes. I named it cause
and effect diagram. This was around 1950 to 1951. At the beginning, I only used it
in a classroom. Later in 1952, when I introduced it at the Fukiai Plant of Kawasaki
Steel Corporation (present JFE Steel Corporation,) I found it a very useful diagramsuch as a tool for standardization. So, I began actively recommending it.” (1968,[197])“One or two years later, when I visited the plant of Nippon Soda in
Aizu-Wakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture, the people at the plant called the
diagram ‘Fishbone.’ I thought it was a really nice and easy-to-understand name.
402Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

However, as I looked into the diagram they made, it resembled a skeleton of a fish,
but it only had large bones. It was not good. So, I explained that a fishbone diagram
must have medium and small bones as well as large ones. I used Godzilla as an
example, which was popular at the time, pointing out to write a ‘Godzilla’ bone
diagram, since the giant monster had a lot of bones including very small bones.
Anyway, I kept using the name of ‘fishbone’ because it was nice to understand forpeople working at a plant.” (1968, [197])“When Dr. Juran made his second visit to Japan in 1960, he got so interested
in my explanation about the cause and effect diagram that he put it on a quality
control handbook with the names of ‘Cause and Effect Diagram,’ ‘Fish Bone’s
Diagram’ and ‘Ishikawa Diagram.’” (1968, [197])(3) Control Step

Speaking of “Control” today, it means “Rotating the PDCA cycles.” Its first stage
was our awareness about both a need of standardization in control and a general step incontrol. He explained this point in his book: Introduction to Quality Control (1954，[B1]，p. 10) published in April 1954 as follows:“In terms of quality control, the steps are as follows:
1. Decide a quality standard.
2. Decide a technical standard and a work standard.
3. Teach and train people with the work standard.
4. Do the work.
5. Check the work whether it corresponds to the standard or not.
6. Re-work if it does not correspond to the standard.
7. Check if the re-work is done correctly or not.”Dr. Juran, who came to Japan in July 1954, defined control as “a system of all steps
to reach a standard that we prepare.”
Dr. Juran also indicated the “seven steps of control.” (Dr. Juran’s lecture report,
JUSE, 1954)“1. Choice of a control point = Discover what is important.
2. Unit of measure403

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

3.
4.
5.

Systematic means for measuring actual performanceStandard of performance
Interpretation of difference between actual and standard performances

6.
7.

Decision on what action to take
Action to carry out the decision”

Comparing with the one by Dr. Ishikawa above, the number of steps is same,
whereas the contents are different. We can say the two concepts were establishedindependently.
As the second stage, it would be a question how these steps were summarized in
the PDCA cycle. With regard to this, Dr. Deming’s “8 sectors of the wheel” and the next
remarks in the Dr. Juran’s lecture report were the starting points.
“Fundamental steps for doing something include 3 steps; planning, doing andseeing. In fact, these can be switched to planning, operating and controlling. These
steps shape an upward spiral, improving or going up to the next step by spiraling.
It was the starting point and the concept was developed by Dr. Shigeru Mizuno
in the late 1950s and 1960s, which is implied in a monthly report in the quality
control basic seminar. Then, the monthly lecture report, written by Dr. Mizuno, forthe 21st basic course held in August 1961, showed the steps of ‘plan do, check andact’ as the same style as we use now, with a title of a “control circle.”Re-design

SurveyService

DesignImprove
Production

Sales

Responsibility to Quality

Figure 15.2 Basic Rules of Quality Control (1961, [B5], p. 7)

Figure 15.2, in the Hinshitsu Kanri (Statistical Quality Control) (1961, [B5]),
introduced the Dr. Deming’s idea with the title of “Basic Rules of Quality Control.” Thefigure was also introduced as the control concept, the Deming’s cycle” in the “The404

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

Control Chart Method (1962, [B23], p. 13). On the other hand, in the articles that Dr.
Ishikawa wrote, the aforementioned 7 steps were published as corresponding to the
PDCA cycle, together with the next comment in the Introduction to Quality Control(1964, [B1]).
“These are the more realistic and QC-style steps rather than scientific control
so-called plan, do and see.” (1964, [B1], p. 30)(Noriaki Kano)

15.5

Administrative Methods on Quality Control(1) Emphasis on Education

One of the important infrastructures of quality control is education and training. Dr.
Ishikawa explained the difference between education and training derived from his own
experiences and thoughts.
“In Japan, we always speak about education and training as a set, while in theEurope and the United States, they only use the word training as ‘industrial
training,’ not using the word education. I suppose they want to improve their skills
by training rather than by education. I personally think we need to sharpen ourbrain and change our ways of thinking not only by training but also by education.”(1981, [B9], p. 56)
I think his idea implied that Japanese quality control was built on education,
aiming for human growth and respect for humanity which was one of the features ofJapanese quality control.
“Quality control starts and ends with education.” (1972, [22])The above is a famous phrase of Dr. Ishikawa. He never separated humanity from
TQC. His sociological and anthropological examination through TQC was probably
established based on his own experiences.
(Hiroshi Osada)405

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us(2) Cross-functional management based on a cross-functional management committee

Today, cross-functional management is an important system for TQC promotion as
well as hoshin kanri (policy management) and daily management. Toyota Motor
Corporation was the first company that introduced cross-functional management in theearly 1960s. Later, Komatsu Ltd. and others also implemented it. Today thecross-functional management attracts attention from a lot of top management andmanagers overseas. Dr. Ishikawa described how it was developed as an advocate.
“About the cross-functional management, I explained it with a matrix chartwith variables of department and function in the year 1960. Then, Toyota Motor
Corporation introduced, implemented with various efforts and succeeded in it.”(1981, [B9], p. 160)
He pointed out a reason why such a system would be required.
“Japanese societies and companies have strong hierarchical and vertical
relationships, whereas their horizontal relationships are weak due to sectionalism.”(1980, [60], p. 9)“Cross-functional management based on a cross-functional management
committee means building a horizontal relationship through the committee.” (1980,[60])
He also mentioned how the committee should be organized and operated. With
respect to the effect, he stressed as follows.
“Executives come to have wide views like managers, not just the
representatives of departments. Directors will become the real directors. Their waysof thinking will become flexible. They will learn to help each other.” (1981, [B9], p.
165)
At the same time, however, he was concerned about the actual situation that did notreach the level as he said in the statement above.
“If the thought revolution called cross-functional management is not achieved,406

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

the cross-functional management committee will be in name only and will not work
well. Actually, a company with a strong top-down style ran by an autocrat needs toimplement the management style. However, it has yet been worked well in manycases.” (1980, [60])This is one of our tasks to develop this concept and system in the future.
The background of his proposal of cross-function management might be studying
hard about the organization when he wrote the manuscript of “Plant Organization”
which was the first issue of the series of QC lecture of Hinshitsu Kanri (Statistical
Quality Control) in 1957. In addition, it might also be a matrix chart he made with two
sustainable management goals [quality, cost and quantity] and the measures [research,
production technology and manufacturing engineering, materials, Genba: workplace,sales and survey], shown in his report at the visit to the States in 1958.
In addition, he asserted, “At all stages from researches to sales and surveys, thethree factors of management goal; quality, cost and quantity must be considered.” (1958，[249])
Therefore, I assume that he got some clues about the concept in the USA.
(Noriaki Kano)(3) Ten QC Principles for Vendee-Vendor Relations

As previously mentioned in Section 15.1(2), Dr. Ishikawa was an all-round player
of QC who handled everything from the QC of new product development to the QC ofsales and services. He was especially good at “the QC of outsourcing and purchase
control.” Concerning the outsourcing and purchase control, he thought that top
management should make the policy clear, and should especially have a priority toclarify the following points:“1. Make a clear decision on buying or producing, which means either
selecting professional suppliers and buying from them or producing within
a company.
2. Make a clear decision on either two options. One is educating vendors tobe professional suppliers, letting them do their own management andallowing them to sell the product to other companies. The other one ishaving vendors as affiliate companies, which means their management ishandled with the responsible of the vendee.” (1981, [B9], p. 227)407

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

With respect to the vendee-vendor relationship, he always explained the “Ten QC
Principles for Vendee-Vendor Relationship” and stressed its importance as well. The
principles were established based on the Dr. Ishikawa’s “Vendor-Vendee Relationship”(1960, [334]) and the “5 Principles for Vendor-Vendee Relationship” by the American
Society for Quality Control (ASQC), and led by Dr. Ishikawa at the QC Conference in1960 (1960, [335]). Later, the principles were revised in 1967 as shown in Table 15.2
(1967, [350]).
Note: The title of the principles, when it was established in 1960, was the “Ten QC
Principles for Vendor-Vendee Relationship.” When it was revised in 1967, the order ofvendor and vendee was switched because of “placing top priority on consumers(vendees) in the QC concept.” (1967, [350])

Table 15.2 (1967, [350])
Ten New QC Principles for Vendee-Vendor Relations (Provisional)
Both vendee and vendor should perform the basic rules below with mutual trust,cooperation, philosophy of co-existence, and corporate’s social responsibility.
1. Both vendee and vendor are fully responsible for applications of quality control withmutual understanding and cooperation between their quality control systems.
2. Both vendee and vendor should be independent and respect each other.
3. The vendee is responsible to the vendor for offering the demand that the vendor
clearly understands what he should manufacture.
4. Both vendee and vendor should sign a rational contract when they begin trading
regarding with quality, quantity, price, and the data of delivery, etc.
5. The vendor is responsible for the assurance of quality that will give satisfaction to thevendee, moreover complying with a request for providing the objective data needed.
6. Both vendee and vendor should decide the method how to evaluate the products forboth being satisfied.
7. Both vendee and vendor should decide the systems and procedures for the trouble
resolution when the contract is established.
8. Both vendee and vendor, should exchange necessary information to carry out quality
control taking into consideration the other parties’ standing.
9. Bothe vendee and vendor should keep sufficient on control ordering, production,
inventory planning, paperwork and organization, etc. to maintain their smooth
relationship.
10. Both vendee and vendor should always take the consumers’ advantage into account at
the transactions.
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Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

His basic idea on outsourcing and purchase control was summarized in his word:“Manufacturers should be responsible for quality assurance.” (1981, [B9], p. 239)
Based on this idea, he created 8 levels of the vendee-vendor relationship andexplained it with the Table 15.3 below. This table would be useful as a checklist when acompany makes self-evaluation on a relationship with its supplier.
Dr. Ishikawa was involved in selecting a paint company as a member of anadvisory group on painting, which was set up in the Japan National Railways in 1960.
His activity at the advisory group was compiled in the following article:“An Example of Selecting a Supplier —Selecting Method for a Painting
Company in Japan National Railways” (1964, [345])
In addition, he wrote the following papers about outsourcing and purchase control:“Rationalization of Contract” (1954, [324]), “Purchasing Inspection” (1962, [339]),“Outsourcing/Purchase” (1964, [344]), “Outsourcing and Quality Control” (1965,[346]), etc.

Table 15.3 Vendee-Vendor Relationship on Quality Assurance (1981, [B9], p. 238)
VendorVendeeStep

Manufacturing

Inspection

Inspection

Manufacturing

1

―
―

―

100% Inspection

100% Inspection

3

―
―
―

100% Inspection

100% Inspection

4―

100% Inspection

5

100% Inspection

Sampling Inspection

6

Process Control

Sampling Inspection

7

Process Control

Visual Inspection

8

Process Control

No Inspection

2

Sampling Inspection
or Visual Inspection
Sampling Inspection
or Visual Inspection
Visual Inspection or
No Inspection
Visual Inspection or
No Inspection
No Inspection(Noriaki Kano)

409

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us(4) Dr. Ishikawa’s basic concept on organizational management with TQC

1) Manager’s Roles
Dr. Ishikawa placed a lot of emphasis on corporate organization as a foundation topromote TQC because he thought it is the very employees who carry out the TQC
management and the organization which is nothing but a group of employees.
He mentioned organizational management, referring in detail to roles and ideal
status of top management, middle managers and staff, based on his rich experiences as abusiness person and an instructor. His book: What is Total Quality Control? The
Japanese Way described it in a very easy-to-understand manner. I would say the book is
extremely rare because it is a QC book and would also be very helpful as a business
management textbook.
When he talked about the manager’s roles, he used specific and appropriate
metaphors. Some examples are shown below:“Middle managers are the traffic policemen in a company.”“QC staff should be the service staff. The staff should serve as the service staff
70% and as the general staff 30%.”“Be the one who doesn’t have to be at a company but be the one indispensablefor the company.”
The last one is one of his most valuable quotes.
2) Delegation of authority and standardization
One of the points that Dr. Ishikawa always referred during his lectures for top
management and managers was “Facilitate delegation of authority.”
He pointed out the importance by saying “Because of insufficient delegation of
authority, managers are too busy with their daily businesses to think about the future.”He also stressed the responsibility of senior managers by saying “Authority can bedelegated, while responsibility cannot be.”In response to the top management and managers who were concerned that theirjobs might be taken away or their companies might be differently operated from theirown thoughts, Dr. Ishikawa replied by indicating the significance of standardization.
“Standardization is required for delegation of authority.”410

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

I often saw the audience fully agreed and nodded sympathetically at this point.
The report he made after the visit to the USA in 1958 referred to delegation of
authority in the section of QC team position and its function for the first time. (1958,[248])
3) Management based on a theory that man is by nature good / Management
based on a theory that man is by nature evil
This also was his favorite theme, and first appeared on his book: Introduction to
Quality Control (A) (1964, [B1], p. 6, p. 35). When he explained about the difference of
QC between in Japan and in the Europe and the United States, he always mentioned thistheme. Also, when his book: What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way wastranslated into English, the translator: Dr. Lu argued with Dr. Ishikawa on this point. As
a result, Dr. Lu’s comment appeared on the translation note (1985, [B9]) as objection to
the Dr. Ishikawa’s opinion.
There are many quotes he made and used in the TQC mentoring at companies,
such as “Work on daily business and QC together,” “It is essential to get a sense of QC,”
etc. These quotes are listed in Chapter 16.
(Noriaki Kano, Hiroshi Osada)

15.6

The Statistical Method, and the Design of Experiments

What is your impression of Dr. Ishikawa? Many people would answer “Famous for
QC” or “The world authority on QC.” Actually, the doctor’s laboratory initiallybelonged to the Department of Applied Chemistry (chemical engineering) and later
belonged to the Department of Fuel Engineering (changed to the Department ofReactive Chemistry in 1971.) So, high pressure coal molding, or coal briquettes, was
one of his research themes in the late 1940s, which might be hard to believe.
In 1954, when I joined the laboratory, there were still manually-operated coalanalysis equipments, including as much as constant-temperature drying ovens and otherelectric furnaces. As for crushers, sample reducers, sample dividers and other items, it
was almost fully equipped. One of his main research themes in the early days: “A study
on sampling methods for the bulk material,” which was conducted with thisexperimental equipment.
The hardware he used for his research included crushers and simple analysis
equipment. But, it is the software, such as the Statistical Method and the Experimental
Design that supported his research. Based on his experiences with these methods, he
411

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

produced a series of lecture articles in the Chemistry and Engineering, which was ajournal of the Chemical Society of Japan. Then, based on this series, he published 3
books from Tokyo Chemistry Coterie.
Statistical Methods for Chemists and Chemical Engineers (1964, [B26])
Design of Experiments for Chemists and Chemical Engineers (Vol. 1) (1967,[B27])
Design of Experiments for Chemists and Chemical Engineers (Vol. 2) (1967,[B27])
These books were written by Dr. Ishikawa in collaboration with Dr. Hitoshi Kumeand Dr. Toshimi Fujimori. Since the target readers were chemists and chemicalengineers, not QC engineers, the books were slightly different from usual textbooks
about statistical methods in that they contained many chemist-friendly examples insteadof difficult theories and formula. Therefore, it became very popular especially withmany people engaging in chemistry who had been prejudiced against statistical methods.
Moreover, it has been a longtime seller from Tokyo Chemistry Coterie. The bookStatistical Methods for Chemists and Chemical Engineers (2nd edition) was publishedin 1990.
I think one of the outstanding features of his achievements was making directcontributions to the postwar economic reconstruction of Japan by linking his research
results with production worksites. These 3 books could be said the examples of his
results.
In spite of the fact that Dr. Ishikawa has now been famous for QC, the books
covered his original background of starting in a chemistry department.
(Toshimi Fujimori)

15.7

Transfer of TQC to Overseas

Today, in the globalized world, we have seen the increasing importance oftechnology exchange and technology transfer to other countries in Japan. Dr. Ishikawa
thought that spreading the Japanese TQC abroad meant a kind of transferring amanagement technology. Besides, he set up the following criteria to indicate when atransfer was completed, which was really a QC style.

412

Chapter 15 The Research of Dr. Ishikawa

1.
2.

Quality control and the subsequent cost down can be achieved by themselves.
New products can be developed by themselves.

Furthermore, he touched upon the importance of increasing the number of QC
instructors who could see and act from the other person’s point of view. This was atimely and critical remark right in the middle of discussion on Japan’s global
contribution. It was surprising that he made the remarks even ten years ago.
The main point of his theory about transferring TQC abroad was “Don’t transfer
TQC directly to a place with a different social background because the TQC which is aneeded management technique and different from other sciences, must involve people inorder to be operated properly. As the Japanese quality control was brought up in
Japanese culture and society, the TQC in a certain country should be implemented in thecertain country’s way. Therefore, he identified 14 items of difference between Japan andthe western countries.
Table 15.4 14 social background differences (1985, [289])
1.

Great emphasis is placed on professionalism and specialization in westerncountries. “QC only for QC specialists”
2. Labor unions are trade unions in western countries and enterprise-wide unions inJapan.
3. Elitism and class-consciousness among university graduates
4. Great emphasis is placed on the Taylor Method in the western countries.
5. Wage system: performance-based pay system (to motivate people by money alone),
versus a seniority-based pay system
6. High turnover rates and layoffs in the western counties, while a life-time
employment system in Japan
7. Organization: Japan has a hierarchical and vertical society, sectionalism —thetendency is strong in Japan.
8. Religion: Christianity, Buddhism and Confucianism, a theory that man is by nature
good or by nature evil
9. Literacy: People using Chinese characters are generally more interested in
education.
10. Education: General education & QC education in Japan. In western counties,
training only.
11. Ethnically homogeneous nation vs. Multiethnic nation
12. Vendee-Vendor relationship: Us or Them, To Trust or Not To Trust, To develop a
supplier as a group company or to have it as just one of the suppliers, Outsourcing
rate: 50% in the States and 70% in Japan
13. Old-style capitalism vs. Democratic capitalism: Having an owner or not, Aiming at
Short-term or Long-term profits
14. The roles of governments: Control, Stimulation, Freedom, Competition
413

PART IV Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Message to Us

The above 14 points would be useful in transferring TQC abroad as a checklist.
(Hiroshi Osada)

15.8

QC in the Service Industry

Dr. Ishikawa had also done pioneering work in the service industry for a long timeby asserting the importance of QC and the ways of facilitating it. He wrote many bookson this topic as shown below:“Service — With no service, no product sell well” (1963, [12])“Trading Company” (1964, [443])“Sales People” (1966, [146])“Distribution System” (1968, [447]; 1968, [448])“Sales/Services, Logistics, Service Industry” (1974, [B20], p. 222, p. 727, p. 750)
“Service Industry” (1975, [450])“Hospital” (1982, [453])“Sales and Distribution Industry” (1982, [454])“Software” (1981, [451]; 1983, [455]; 1984, [456])“Utility Firms” (1985, [458])
In these books, we could see his foresight. Probably, it was his first time to visit the
USA in 1958 when he got an idea of applying quality control in the service industry too,
which was implied in the report written at the time (1959, [B3]).
After his death, a book TQC in the Service Industry (JUSE Press, 1990) was
published. Although, he had agreed to write an article for the book, it was not in time
unfortunately. In order to praise his foresight on the service industry, the first page ofthe book is the list of his works in the field.
(Noriaki Kano)

414