Quality control is the systematic inspection and statistical monitoring of a manufacturing process to detect and prevent defects before a product reaches the customer, rather than relying only on inspecting the finished item. Walter Shewhart at Bell Telephone Laboratories developed statistical process control in the 1920s, using control charts to distinguish ordinary variation from a genuine process problem, and W. Edwards Deming later carried these methods to Japanese manufacturers after the Second World War, where they became central to the quality reputation Japanese industry built in the following decades. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Core PrincipleSystematic inspection and statistical monitoring of a process to detect and prevent defects before they reach the customer. 1 Origin YearWalter Shewhart introduced the statistical control chart at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1924, generally credited as the founding moment of modern statistical quality control. Connections
Associated With
Both grew out of the same early twentieth century scientific management movement toward standardized, monitored industrial processes.
Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Source Notable Alumni: W. Edwards Deming (U.S. Census Bureau)
In Field
Source Technology: A World HistoryDaniel R. Headrick
Invented By
Source Shewhart's Great Discovery (Quality Digest)
Predecessor Of
Source The History of Six Sigma: From Motorola to Global Adoption (Six Sigma Online)
Sources
1. Statistical Process Control (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationHistory section
Statistical process control was pioneered by Walter A. Shewhart at Bell Laboratories in the early 1920s.
History section, control chart
Shewhart developed the control chart in 1924 and the concept of a state of statistical control.
View the Source Technology: A World History
A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954View the Source The History of Six Sigma: From Motorola to Global Adoption (Six Sigma Online)
Shewhart's Great Discovery (Quality Digest)
Notable Alumni: W. Edwards Deming (U.S. Census Bureau)
United States Census BureauAssociated With: W. Edwards DemingView the Source Frequently Asked Questions
Who developed the statistical methods behind quality control?
Walter Shewhart developed the control chart at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1924, and W. Edwards Deming later carried statistical quality control methods to Japan.
Quality control's statistical methods trace to Walter A. Shewhart, who developed the control chart in 1924 while working at Bell Telephone Laboratories, giving manufacturers a way to tell ordinary process variation apart from a genuine defect signal. W. Edwards Deming later carried these methods to Japanese manufacturers after the Second World War, where they became central to the quality reputation Japanese industry built in the following decades.
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