Is Quality Dead?
Richard Jennings
but the APPLICATION of Quality is certainly cyclical (and sometimes
cynical).
For doubters, I urge you to read Vance Packard's book, "The Waste
Makers", circa 1960. Among other phenomena, Mr. Packard described
the panic in the light bulb industry, in the 1920s, when managers
realized that production capacity was outstripping demand and disaster
loomed. The solution? A cartel pledged to REDUCE the lifetime of
light bulbs! Truly, a unique quality solution!
>From 1946 until at least 1965, US manufacturers could sell anything that
they could make because the manufacturing industries in Europe and Japan
had been destroyed.
In 1963 at Texas Instruments, we manufactured transistors in massive
quantities on single lines. If the device passed all tests, it was
sent to the Minuteman missile program; the very last "pass" station,
just before the trash can, was marked "Japanese Transistor Radios".
By 1980, the Japanese were pillaging the memory market to our anguished
screams of "unfair competition". In a recent NY Times article it
was reported that Japan's economy was now enjoying "effectively
NEGATIVE" interest rates! Anybody want to buy a seldom used golf
course at Pebble Beach?
Sure looks like cyclical quality and economies to me!
If you wish to insure that Quality does not "die", then tie the CEO's
compensation package, in part, to Quality AS PERCEIVED BY CUSTOMERS.
Watch how fast quality comes to the front! Don't believe me?
Check how many Fortune 50 corporations have suddenly discovered Global
Warming! And many of them are Fossil fuel processors and users!
On the other hand, if the "Death of Quality" leads to fewer "Quality
Consultants" and fewer applicants for the Baldrige Award; HOORAY! Now
perhaps people can get back to work. And don't all of you Quality
Consultants try horning in on my new Global Warming consultancy. Go
invent another Alphabet program!
Finally, since I started with a book reference, let me end with one as
well. Remember, several years ago, we had "Management Lessons of
Attila the Hun"? Well now......
AT BOOKSTORES NOW: "Cigars, Whiskey, & Winning--LEADERSHIP LESSONS from
General Ulysses S. Grant" described in the book blurb as "250
strategic lessons from General Grant's Civil War memoirs--essential
reading for today's business leaders.
A failed soldier, a failed businessman, later the General responsible
for the highest casualty rate ever in any one army, and finally, one of
the worst Presidents in history. Truly a model for the new millennium.
Dick Jennings
r...@mimetek.com