Evolution Of Quality Concepts In Manufacturing Industry
                     Evolution Of Quality Concepts In 
Manufacturing Industry
Neel Rao
Writes on 
Reitz India manufacturer of PA and SA fans & Reitz 
India industrial fan manufacturers in India.
The focus of the manufacturing plants is on maintaining their popularity in the 
market. Sales growth and popularity are directly proportional to the product quality. 
Therefore, manufacturers understand the need to meet quality standards. In this 
article, we have summarized how over the last century the quality concepts have 
evolved.
Inspection-Based Quality Management
The origin of the concept of quality control is traced back to the European region of 
medieval times. That was the time when craftsmen started organizing themselves 
under guilds, which are nothing but craftsmen unions. The onus of maintaining the 
quality rested on these guilds.
Quality During The Industrial Revolution
Till the initial stage of the 19th century, the manufacturing sector of industrialized 
regions adhered to the craftsmanship approach of quality management. And, the 
transformations in the primary manufacturing methods led to the advent of 
American quality control systems, during the beginning of the 19th century.
Craftsmanship: Here, the craftsmen directly carried out sales of their offerings in 
local markets. As a result, they had added responsibility to ensure that the quality 
was maintained.
The Factory System: The factory system, an outcome of the industrial revolution, 
started to segregate the skills of craftsmen into specific tasks. Craftsmen and owners 
of shops were compelled to render services in factories. Quality was maintained 
with the workers’ expertise.
The Taylor System: In the latter part of the 19th century Frederick W. Taylor came 
out with a unique approach to management. This system was designed to enhance 
productivity without the need to take in more number of expert craftsmen. The 
excessive importance attached to productivity adversely impacted quality. To 
remedy this, inspection departments were created to prevent defective products 
from reaching customers.
Quality Control During The Second World War
In the Second World War, the aspect of quality attained more significance than ever 
before, as it was directly linked to safety. The entire equipment virtually every piece 
was inspected by the armed forces. This practice was not easy to implement. 
Subsequently, the procedure of inspecting every piece got changed and the method 
of checking random samples was introduced.
Similarly, when the scenario of the 1950s is considered, quality control became the 
topmost priority for manufacturers. With quality circles in the 1960s, the facet of 
quality management was no longer confined to the managerial rank. Volunteer 
groups of workers who meet and discuss topics to improve the workplace and 
present their ideas to management are called quality circles.
Quality Management - Beginning Of 20th Century
At the beginning of the 20th century, the addition of ‘processes’ to quality 
management was a significant development. During the middle of the 1920s, Walter 
Shewhart started a method of statistical interpretation of industrial data to inspect 
the process of manufacturing. As a result of this work, the foundation for the 
modern-day tool of control charts was created.
TQM (Total Quality Management) 
The 1980s and 90s witnessed the start of a new stage of quality management, which 
is now known as TQM (total quality management). This was the western quality 
movement after observing Japan’s success with quality control. Total quality 
management became a broader term that included several aspects like employee 
participation, customer-centric approach and continuous improvement. 
After TQM
With the arrival of the 21st century, the discipline of quality management and 
control got well-established in the manufacturing sector. In fact, many new systems 
came into being.
In the year 2000, the quality standards of the ISO-9000 series were modified to give 
more relevance to customer satisfaction.
Similarly, the year 2015 saw the revision of ISO-9001 standard; it stressed on the 
importance of risk management.
Several organizations began to adopt the Six Sigma quality methodology developed 
by Motorola.
The ISO-9000 series got divided into several quality standards, for diverse sectors.
There is every reason to believe that quality management standards will never cease 
to evolve. We would invariably see more number of fresh concepts in the future.
About REITZINDIA
Reitz India has set a benchmark to deliver high quality fans for heavy duty industries 
which can work at precise operating conditions like high temperatures and pressures. 
Reitz offer idealistic Centrifugal Fan and Centrifugal blower design that can be used in 
all large scale process industries like cement, iron & steel, power plants, fertilizers/ 
chemicals and more.
Thank you for spending your precious time in reading this article!