Ishikawa Philosophy

Ishikawa provided a great deal of leadership in shaping the Japanese quality movement through his vision and activities associated with the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE).
By 1967 Japanese quality control could, be distinguished from that practiced in the West

Six characteristics of Japanese Quality Control

1-Company-wide quality control; participation by all members of the organization in quality control.
2-Education and training in quality control.
3-Quality control circle activities.
4-Quality control audits (for effectiveness).
5-Utilization of statistical methods.
6-Nationwide quality control promotion (including training) activities.

Ishikawa's impact on quality control practices has been extensive.
Ishikawa developed the concept of true and of substitute quality characteristics.

“True” VS “Substitute” quality characteristics

The "true" quality characteristics are the customer's view of product performance, expressed in the customer's vocabulary.
"Substitute" quality characteristics are the producer's view of product performance expressed in the producer's technical vocabulary.
The degree of match between true and substitute quality characteristics ultimately determines customer saIshikawa proposes three steps which are the basis of quality-planning and quality function-deployment techniques.

Understand true quality characteristics.
Determine methods of measuring and testing true quality characteristics.
Discover substitute quality characteristics, and have a correct understanding of the relationship between true quality characteristics and substitute quality characteristics.
ultimately determines customer satisfaction.

Ishikawa proposes three steps which are the basis of quality-planning and quality function-deployment techniques.
Understand true quality characteristics.
Determine methods of measuring and testing true quality characteristics.
Discover substitute quality characteristics, and have a correct understanding of the relationship between true quality characteristics and substitute quality characteristics.

Seven Quality Tools
Ishikawa has been associated with the development and advocacy of universal education in the seven "indispensable" or fundamental tools (of quality control):
1-Cause-effect (Ishikawa) diagram.
2-Stratification.
3-Check sheet.
4-Histogram.
5-Scatter diagram.
6-Pareto chart (vital few, trivial many).
7-Graphs and statistical control charts.

Some key elements of his philosophy are summarized here

1. Quality begins with education and ends with education.
2. The first step in quality is to know the requirements of customers.
3. The ideal state of quality control occurs when inspection is no longer necessary.
4. Remove the root cause, not the symptoms.
5. Quality control is the responsibility of all workers and all divisions.
6. Do not confuse the means with the objectives.
7. Put quality first and set your sights on long-term profits.
8. Marketing is the entrance and exit of quality.
9. Top management must not show anger when facts are presented by subordinates.
10. Ninety-five percent of problems in a company can be solved with simple tools for analysis and problem solving.
11. Data without dispersion information (i.e., variability) is false data.