This is very obvious, when you think about it. Making duds sops up just as much machine
capacity as making OK output does; thus to improve quality is to bring more productive
capacity into profitable employment. You would wonder why it is necessary to state such an
obvious truth. Alas, it is often necessary to do so.
So this thing we call quality – which is about satisfying the needs of the customer and
doing so at an economic cost – is a subject well worthy of consideration at the highest level.
Quality, used for a generation and more by Japan as a key element of manufacturing and
marketing strategy, offers us the chance to create a strong competitive edge. Quality, once
the Cinderella of the organization, is about to become a royal bride. Unless we get it wrong,
and it becomes just another ugly sister instead. So how do we get it right?