Introduction
Quality is a fundamental component for any manufacturing process. As such, many organizations are keen to ensure that they incorporate quality in their manufacturing processes as well as in their other operations. The current essay endeavors to examine the Robust Design method with respect to quality, and then compared it with the Six Sigma approach. Thereafter, the essay shall endeavor to support the claim that the Japanese quality gurus were influenced greatly by their American counterparts. Finally, the essay shall try to examine the role played by Shigeo Shingo in the field of engineering, and why he deserves a Nobel Prize in quality management.
Genichi Taguchi’s Robust Design Method
The Robust Design method is the brainchild of Genichi Taguchi (Six Sigma n. d.). The Robust Design method is also concerned with the improvement of the key functions of the process or product. As a result, the Robust Design method allows for concurrent engineering and flexible designs. In particular, the Robust Design method is concerned with the identification of defects and errors in manufacturing. Both the Robust Design and the six sigma approach deal with the elimination of likely defects during manufacturing. Over the last five years, we have seen many of the leading companies invest a lot of their financial and human resources in the Six Sigma method with the intention of minimizing waste during the process of manufacturing and operations. These efforts have had a huge impact on the cost structure of various companies as well as their bottom line.
The improvement of engineering productivity relies heavily on the Robust Design method. The technique has evolved over the past fifty years and thus far, many organizations globally have saved their production cost to the tune of millions of dollars by implementing this technique in their daily operations.
The Japanese Quality Gurus Were Inspired By The Preaching Of American Quality Gurus
The history of Total Quality Management (TQM) dates as far back as the early 1920s, when a lot of production quality control ideas were being generated. In the late 1940s and 1950s, the TQM concept started gaining popularity in Japan. Three American gurus are noted for the role that they played as pioneers of this concept in Japan. They are Deming, Feigenbaum, and Juran. The effective application of statistical theory in the 1920s was aimed at helping to improve quality control during production (Department of Trade and Industry n. d.). The first sketch of the modern day control chart was developed by Shewhart in 1924. Later on, Deming developed the work of Shewhart, with other quality gurus following in his footsteps.
In fact, the current theory of statistical process control (SPC) borrows heavily from the work of Deming, Shewhart, Romig, and Dodge. On the other hand, these techniques were of limited application in majority of the manufacturing companies during the late 1940s. Back then, much of the industrial system in Japan was virtually destroyed. In addition, Japan had a reputation for illiterate workforce and cheap imitation products. Once the Japanese had recognized the challenges facing them, they embarked on a strategy to overcome them. They were assisted by such renowned American gurus as Deming, Feignenbaum, and Juran. There was a rapid development of quality management practices in Japan during the early 1950s and in the years that followed, TQM had turned into a major theme in as far as the Japanese management philosophy is concerned.
Does Shigeo Shingo Really Deserve To Be Awarded A Management Nobel Prize
Shigeo Shingo may not be known very well in the West but nonetheless, he has had a deep impact in Japanese industries. His immense contribution in the field of engineering has won the admiration of many renowned scholars. Bechford reports an important industrialist having said thus about Shigeo Shingo: “If I could give a Nobel Prize for exceptional contributions to world economy, prosperity, and productivity, I wouldn’t have much difficulty selecting a winner- Shigeo Shingo” (Bechford 2002, p. 129). Shigeo Shingo is still regarded by many scholars as one of the most influential personalities in engineering in the twentieth century.
Shingo was convinced that there was a way to prevent the occurrence of defects and this made him popular in the area of quality (Bechford 2002, p. 130). According to him, statistical methods were not ideal in engineering because they often detected errors too late. Accordingly, Shingo’s suggestion was that as opposed to detecting errors, the best strategy would be to consider the use of preventive measures with a view to eliminating the sources of error. In other words, what Shingo appears to have been keen on achieving is a change in the mindset of individual in order to allow for the attainment of mistake-proofing.
Conclusion
Quality is a fundamental component of any industry. Various quality gurus have had a major impact in the different fields and they continue to influence each other. For example, many Japanese gurus were inspired by their American counterparts. However, even in Japan, we have engineers who have contributed greatly in the field of engineering, such as Shigeo Shingo, who deserves a Nobel Prize for quality management.
Reference List
Bechford, J., 2002, Quality, Routledge, London. Department of Trade and Industry n. d. The evolution of quality. Web.
Six Sigma n. d., Introduction To Robust Design (Taguchi Method). Web.