Introduction
Quality and continuous improvement are an integral part of the electronics industry. Poor quality is costly. Remediation costs of poor quality can cost a company 25% of its annual sales. Poor quality and the need for high reliability are the catalysts driving continuous improvement today. An in-depth review of quality and continuous improvement is presented.
The History of Quality
The concern for quality control and reduced product variation can be traced back centuries. Archaic quality control methods were used by the Xia Dynasty in 2100 BC in ancient China. During the late 1290s in medieval Europe, guilds—the pre-cursor to unions—were responsible for product and service quality. From 1700 to 1900, product quality was determined by the individual craftsman’s efforts. At the close of the 19th century, Eli Whitney introduced standardized, interchangeable parts to simplify assembly. In 1875, Frederick W. Taylor introduced the scientific management principles, which divided work into smaller, more easily accomplished tasks. Taylor believed the key to productivity and improved quality was knowledge, organization, and leadership. In 1903, Karol Adamiecki developed the harmonograph, a chart depicting workers’ movements and actions indicating the causes of low productivity and potential quality issues. Quality principles were accelerating at the beginning of the 20th century as manufacturers began to shift from purely focusing on their production economy to balancing the number of products produced while meeting increased consumer demands for quality.