Unemployment and inflation rates were setting record highs. Foreign goods were controlling most of the markets. US companies were on the verge of bankruptcy. Quality is a difficult term to define. Either a product has quality or it does not.
Consumers recognize it when they see it.
Just the manufacturer cannot determine quality components. A manufacturer can produce what they think is a quality product, but unless it meets the consumer's standards it will never be considered a quality product. Finally realizing that American goods were inferior to foreign competitors' products in quality, corporations instituted programs that followed the principles of W. Edwards Deming. Deming was a pioneer in the science of business quality. He had started his teaching in places that would listen, like Japan.