Chapter - 1

Concept of Quality and TQM
Dr. Shyamal Gomes
“Quality is not an art, it is a habit” - Aristotle

Introduction: Till 300 years ago, people used the power of their own muscles, animals or the force of wind and flowing water to do all works. With the invention of the ‘steam engine’ they got a powerful method of running their machines. This provided a tremendous boost to Industry. Goods started getting produced in larger quantities using machines. This led to the beginning of the factory system. The significant change from handmade goods to machine-made goods, which began in Britain in 18th century, is known as the Industrial Revolution. Why it was called Revolution? Because of the large scale changes it brought about our economy, society and culture. IR soon spread to other nation like Germany, France, Portugal. As these countries became industrialised, they needed two things: 1. Raw materials for manufacturing and 2. New markets to sell the goods they made. They found both raw materials as well as new markets to sell their goods in the nonindustrialised countries of Asia and Africa. So they started annexing to meet the needs of their new factories. Soon they became jealous of each other, and wanted their own empires to grow. They started fighting among themselves. This finally led to a great war in which several nations of the world were involved. It came to be known as World War- I (August 1914-1918). Millions of soldiers and other people were killed or wounded. Cities were destroyed and there was shortage of food and everything else. In 1939, there was another war, called World War II. It lasted for 6 years and ended in 1945 after USA dropped atomic bombs over two Japanese cities – Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After world war – II, most Japanese companies had to start literally from Scratch. Everyday brought new challenges to managers and workers alike,