Talk:Quality circle

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Quality circle

[edit] Production workers are the final determinants of quality

QUALITY CIRCLES. Production workers are the final determinants of quality, and they are willing and informed involvement in the quality effort is essential. One approach to achieving this is through the institution of quality circles. In this technique, workers are gathered into groups of perhaps 10, which meet together, perhaps one hour a week, over an extended period. These quality circles are told some basic methods of statistical and problem-solving, and then they proceeded to identify problems within their work areas, develop alternatives, and fully propose a solution to management. One example of this technique might be to teach 'pareto analysis'. The Japanese have more than one million such circles in operation at any one-time, involving an average 10 people each, which have produced tens of millions of suggestions for improving products and production methods. Quality circles are now being rapidly taken up by both British and American companies. (Babcock, 1996)