The Next Leap in Productivity: What Top Managers Really Need to Know about Information Technology

4.12. Deming versus U.S. Automakers

Manufacturing industries have learned how to create high-quality, affordable, and abundant products using defect prevention techniques. The automotive industry is a prime example of this paradigm shift. For the automotive industry, a major advance in product quality was made when the meaning of testing was redefined. In the years before World War II, automakers in the United States and Europe would test their products after they came off the assembly line. Defects would be corrected one by one.

There were two problems with this approach. First, it delayed completion and delivery of the final product, making production more expensive than it should have been. Second, it was ineffective in identifying all of the defects, allowing many faults to remain in the autos after they had been shipped to market. This led to a short product life and high consumer dissatisfaction.

After the war, this hunt-and-fix mentality remained deeply rooted in the U.S. automotive industry. Deming tried to educate the auto industry about error prevention techniques and their application to the assembly line.

When his efforts were discounted in the United States, Deming turned to the Japanese, who were quick to recognize and reap the potential profit that his methods offered.

Deming's great insight into the manufacturing process was that quality was essentially locked out of the process if defects were not considered until after the autos were assembled. For instance, ...