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2.1: History of Quality

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    39477
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    Quality philosophies have been around for as long as humankind. Standards of quality were necessarily different thousands of years ago and, some might say, lower by our standards today. Where you and I might throw away a half-rotten apple, the nomadic cave dweller would likely judge the unspoiled half as a great dinner.

    clipboard_e9d18330d663568389c12aec21d12514c.png
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): ISO9001:2015 principles of quality management. Based on Dr. Feigenbaum’s Principles of Total Quality Management. By Jack O'Grady, CC BY 4.0

    Quality Reputation

    Areas of expertise in quality inevitably evolved alongside the division of labor into hunting and gathering, and this knowledge was passed down from generation to generation. It evolved further still as humankind began to settle into relatively permanent locations and start the practice of agriculture. Settlements grew into villages with full-fledged marketplaces where a buyer could come to inspect a producer's product and provide immediate feedback as to its quality. There was no intermediary between buyer and seller. The consumer and producer usually lived in the same village. Hence, the producer had a personal stake in maintaining quality: his reputation. A buyer could quickly spread the news of a poor-quality product by word of mouth.

    The Effects of Growth on Commerce

    As population growth transformed villages into towns and cities, and new routes and methods of transport opened to expand trade into larger geographical regions. A producer and consumer living in the same village could rely on oral warranties and face-to-face meetings to resolve quality concerns, but what happened when the two lived many miles apart from each other? Here we see the birth of the "intermediary" or wholesaler, and the idea of the written warranty. The wholesaler became a kind of communications liaison between buyer and seller in that he not only transported and sold products on behalf of the producer but also negotiated quality specifications between the two. In the case of material goods, for example, a buyer could specify requirements to a wholesaler who would report those conditions back to the manufacturer.

    Naturally, conflicts arose in this area due to differing ideas between buyers and sellers when it came to issues of quality and quality testing. Hence, the concept of establishing standards of quality testing and inspection evolved out of necessity, which inevitably led to the standardization of measuring instruments and the need to calibrate them as well. A good example of this is the ancient Egyptian unit of measure known as the "cubit." The cubit was determined to be the length of the Pharaoh's forearm. Measuring sticks were made to match this length and subsequently used by every architect as a standard measuring tool. Soon after that, the idea of the "Mark" or "Seal" was developed as a means of identifying and tracing the origins of a product. The seal gave buyers a modicum of assurance as to the quality of a product. This approach to quality assurance is with us even today. Meat and dairy products, for instance, come stamped as "USDA Approved." Likewise, the various electronic appliances we use every day are tested to meet such standards as the ANSI specification.

    An Early Example of Quality Control

    In ancient Rome, bridge engineers were required to stand under their finished product while the bridge was weight-tested by various types of traffic. Although this was a very harsh method of ensuring quality, it worked given that many of those structures still stand to this day. What the Romans understand very well was the necessity of holding people accountable for quality products. As skillful as the Romans were, however, their philosophy of quality lacked an understanding of the need to set standards and specifications that did not change over time or at the whim of individual judgment. This was true not just of the Romans but most other cultures. It was not until the industrial revolution that we begin to see notions about quality mature towards the idea of controlling for consistency in the manufacturing process.

    The Industrial Revolution

    Efforts towards developing a means of mass production arose in the United States during the Civil War when the U.S. government contracted with Eli Whitney to manufacture 700 muskets with interchangeable parts. The hope was that, by setting standard specifications for each piece, the natural variations introduced by handcrafted production is reduced enough to allow failing parts to be replaced in the field. The central idea of mass-producing identical, interchangeable parts carried forward even though Whitney's attempt to solve the problem was a relative failure with only 14 muskets correctly assembled.

    Most products continued to be crafted and inspected one at a time by individual artisans and craftspeople until Henry Ford revolutionized the manufacturing industry with the introduction of the assembly line. No longer was production the responsibility of one person. Instead, dozens of workers operated the assembly process, and the responsibility for quality assurance fell to supervisors. As growth continued, the average number of employees on an assembly line climbed into the hundreds, and quality became the responsibility of an entire inspection department. The increase in numbers beyond this point leads to the introduction of statistical sampling in today's manufacturing environments.

    The Effect of Culture on Quality: The Taylor Method

    Changes in production methods were not the only factors affecting quality control. A growing need for skilled workers coincided with the influx of non-English speaking immigrants to the U.S. from 1860-1920. Differences in language, culture, and skills among these workers introduced new variables into quality control. Many of these immigrants had never seen nor worked on an assembly line, and language differences presented a clear challenge when it came time to train them.

    A mechanical engineer by the name of Fredrick Taylor was the first to address this problem by automating each part of the manufacturing process into a series of repeatable steps these workers could learn and execute only by watching and then doing. Taylor eliminated the need for any assembly line worker, English speaking or not, to do anything other than learning their steps by rote and perform them robotically. Issues of quality became the sole authority of management. Workers' feedback on such matters was often ignored and usually dismissed entirely. This polarized and often created an adversarial relationship between labor and management, which continues in many industries even to this day.

    After World War II

    Manufacturing industries across Europe and Asia (specifically Japan) were devastated in the aftermath of the Second World War. In those countries where the war was fought on their soil, entire factories were decimated. The American manufacturing industry, however, was unharmed and meant a huge surge in U.S. dominance in manufacturing as no other country could fill the resultant worldwide shortage of goods. It also meant that producers of goods in the U.S. had the luxury of dictating product requirements and quality to the public rather than responding to the type of feedback that would otherwise inform a genuinely competitive marketplace.

    It was not until foreign companies recovered and targeted this weakness in U.S. attitudes that U.S. businesses succumbed to paying better attention to customer needs. Where U.S. industries remained cavalier about product quality, overseas companies, particularly Japanese firms, solicited customer feedback and willingly responded to those needs and demands. They also developed management philosophies that respected the needs of labor. It was not long before these foreign companies began to outperform the U.S. in manufacturing. The steel industry in Japan, for example, thrived while in the U.S., many companies faced insolvency and were forced to lay off their workers.

    Need for Quality in Today’s Business Environment

    By the 1980s, the U.S. manufacturing industry had lost so much ground that it was no longer considered the leader in the production of consumer goods. Nowhere was this fact clearer than in the automobile industry. Year after year, sales of domestic vehicles slipped as the Japanese and Koreans outpaced the U.S. in price, quality, and customer satisfaction. Quite simply, these foreign manufacturers took their cue from the lessons that American businesses continued to ignore – the most important one being the necessity of committing to quality and quality control. Quality plays the deciding role in a company’s ability to mass-produce competitive products at a level of quality and at a price point that satisfies both the consumer’s needs and the company’s profit margin.

    Companies focus on quality in three major areas:

    1. Marketing: The features or "bells and whistles" of a product might be highlighted, but the consumer responds better when quality is used as a selling tool.
    2. Profit: Improve manufacturing methods and training of employees on the production line helps increase profit by reducing waste.
    3. Liability: Quality programs identify and limit areas of potential liability.

    This page titled 2.1: History of Quality is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jack O'Grady.

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