| Quality Control Circles by John Dean. I have been involved with Quality Circles, Small Group Activities, and Group Problem Solving for a number of years and, over time, have come in contact with many of their variations used in the United States. So when I recently participated in a "Seminar and Plant Tour to Study Japanese Quality and Productivity'' by the Cambridge Corporation, I was especially interested in learning how Quality Control Circles operate in Japan. The trip included visits to six Deming Prize winning companies, and lectures from executives of four others. All had active QC Circles programs. The first thing I noticed was the visibility of the QC Circles. In every plant we visited, there were small areas set aside for QC Circles to use. These areas were typically about 10 by 10 feet, with dividers separating them from the work area. The spaces would include a work table, some folding chairs, and a storage cabinet; walls were typically covered with various charts used by the group, such as Pareto Charts, basic Cause and Effect Diagrams (Fishbone/Ishikawa), Variable and Attribute Control Charts, Process Flow Diagrams, and the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Action) Cycle. In many cases the group's problem-solving progress was charted by a pictograph, often a road map leading from one location to another. (For example, a map from the local town to Mt. Fuji, with stops along the way representing the problem-solving steps of selection, observation, analysis, solution development, verification, implementation, and management presentation. A vehicle representing the Circle would be placed at the appropriate point of the group's "journey toward solving the problem.) Commonly, this format was also used on a company-wide basis, with a centrally-located pictograph showing the status of all QC Circles. It is apparent that Japanese managers place considerable emphasis on employee recognition. Displayed on the QC Circle walls were the certificates, ribbons, badges, and other awards won by the Circle. Such awards are for many different things, such as the number of meetings herd, attendance rate, use of the Basic 7 tools, etc. There are also awards presented for successful competition with other Circles within the company and at local, regional, and national levels. Several companies had prominent company-wide displays of their QC Circles, with captioned photographs of each group and listings of the awards and honors won by that group. The themes or problems selected by QC Circles fall in the areas of safety, housekeeping, productivity, and cost reduction, with emphasis placed on Opportunities for KAIZEN. Most QC Circles work on improving the way things are done or placed in the work shop, such as the optimum height of a tool rack, location of cleaning tools, type and amount of solder flux, angle of one's body when tightening a bolt, amount of grease on a bearing, time required to change a die, etc. Few QC Circles start out with goals to improve quality. Quality improvement does occur, however, as a result of the many small improvements (KAIZEN) made in the processes involved. Most of the QC Circles in Japanese companies are similar to one another because they are patterned after the model set out by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) in 1962. In fact, there is a nationwide network of QC Circles administered by JUSE, which sponsors many seminars for QC Circles throughout Japan. These seminars are a forum for Circle leaders and members to exchange ideas and learn how others are doing; more importantly, they provide an arena for Circles to compete and be judged on common criteria. After winning competitions on the company, local, regional, and national levels, the top groups travel to Tokyo and compete at an annual meeting, where the Circle for the Year for Japan is selected. This is an exceptional honor. I was privileged to visit the Kobayase Kose Cosmetics Company, whose Miabi Circle had won a recent national competition. The Circle consisted of six women who worked on the assembly. They made an excellent 20-minute presentation of the Kose QC Circle program, of how their group was formed in 1977, the training and study undertaken, difficulties of changing membership over the years, some of the various problems worked on, and the journey through the competitions to the top prize. This group of workers, using a darkened room, two overhead projectors with screens, and a narrator, put on a show that would have delighted a Holly wood producer. It was an impressive display. In retrospect, I can understand why so many American managers have returned from visits to Japan with the conviction that Quality Control Circles are the key to quality Improvement. The QC Circles' visibility, the pride and attention given them by Japanese managers, and their obviously positive results are strong indicators of the power of this people-involvement program. QC Circles are an important part of the overall Total Quality Control efforts made by Japanese companies. In TQC, the first and foremost concern is with the quality of people. And a company able to instill quality in its people is well on the road to producing high quality products. |