The Road to Quality Control

Thoughts on The Road to Quality Control – The Industrial Application of Statistical Quality Control by Homer M. Sarasohn

W. H. Woodall

Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA

Introduction

When I was asked to write a short article on The Road to Quality Control, I had very limited knowledge of Homer Sarasohn. I had heard his name, knew he had been an electrical engineer from the US who had worked in Japan immediately after the end of WWII, and that was about it. I have since learned that his work in Japan to lead the restoration of radio and telephone communication was requested by General Douglas MacArthur. Sarasohn was only 29 years old at the time with an undergraduate degree in physics.

After reading this translation of Sarasohn (1952) and learning more about his work in Japan, it is my view that Sarasohn's contributions to Japanese post‐war industrial success through the Industry Branch of the occupation army's Civil Communications Section (CCS) have been greatly underappreciated. His work in Japan in 1946–1950 in coordinating, from rubble, the building of what became Japan's most successful electronics companies preceded the first quality‐related visit by W. E. Deming in 1950 and the first visit by Joseph Juran in 1954. In order to be successful, Sarasohn learned and then taught classes in Japanese. His The Fundamentals of Industrial Management (Sarasohn & Protzman, 1949) with Charles Protzman, a senior production manager with AT&T, and The Road to Quality Control were taught to managers ...