CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The concept of quality has existed for many years, though it’s meaning has changed and evolved over time. In the early twentieth century, quality management meant inspecting products to ensure that they met specifications. In the 1940s, during World War II, quality became more statistical in nature. Statistical sampling techniques were used to evaluate quality, and quality control charts were used to monitor the production process. In the 1960s, with the help of so-called “quality gurus,” the concept took on a broader meaning. Quality began to be viewed as something that encompassed the entire organization, not only the production process. Since all functional were responsible for product quality and all shared the costs of poor quality, quality was seen as a concept that affected the entire organization.

Wilkinson (2008), the meaning of quality for businesses changed dramatically in the late 1970s. Before then, quality was still viewed as something that needed to be inspected and corrected. However, in the 1970s and 1980s many U.S. industries lost market share to foreign competition for examples in the auto industry, manufacturers such as Toyota and Honda became major players. In the consumer goods market, companies such as Toshiba and Sony led the way. These foreign competitors were producing lower-priced products with considerably higher quality.

The term used for today’s new concept of quality is total quality management or TQM. You can see that the old concept is reactive, designed to correct quality problems after they occur.