Quality engineering in japan

For controlling quality of products, there are two things we have to consider; how to measure the quality and how to improve it. The former is discussed in section 2 by introducing the difference in quality levels between Japan and USA. After briefly introducing all countermeasures for improving quality of products, an on-line quality control system design is proposed as the one which is more economical than removing defec- tives after manufacturing by conducting inspection. It has been ma?y Japanese companies' policy to keep pro- cess conditions at best in order to produce uniform products as far as possible. This paper discusses the optimum feed-back process control system design by checking either quality characteristics or process pa- rameters after introducing overall quality countermea- sures starting with product design.