Quality practices date back to ancient times, with early civilizations employing strict craftsmanship standards. The Industrial Revolution marked a turning point, introducing mass production and the need for standardized processes. Over the 20th century, pioneers like Walter Shewhart, W. Edwards Deming, and Joseph Juran developed foundational principles of quality control and management. The rise of formal quality standards, such as ISO 9001, and methodologies like Six Sigma in the late 20th century further cemented quality's critical role in business success. Today, quality continues to evolve, integrating new technologies like artificial intelligence to improve processes and ensure customer satisfaction.
This timeline provides a detailed look at these key developments, helping us understand how historical efforts in quality improvement continue to influence modern practices.
22 January 1901 | Sir John Wolfe-Barry (the man who designed London’s Tower Bridge) instigated the Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers to form a committee to consider standardizing iron and steel sections. |
1911 | Frederick W. Taylor published “The Principles of Scientific Management.” |
1924 | Walter A. Shewhart, a statistician at Bell Laboratories, developed the control charts, and principles of statistical process control. |
1925 | Sir Ronald Fisher published the book, Statistical Methods for Research Workers, and introduced the concept of ANOVA. |
1937 | Joseph Juran introduced the Pareto principle as a means of narrowing on the vital few. |
1940 | The acceptance sampling plan was developed by Harold F Dodge and Harry G Roming. |
1943 | Kaoru Ishikawa developed the cause and effect diagram (also known as fishbone diagram). |
1946 | The Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineering (JUSE) established. |
1946 | The International Organization for Standardization was founded in Geneva, Switzerland. |
16 February 1946 | The American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) was formed. |
1947 | Dr. Edwards Deming was sent to Japan to help Japanese rejuvenate their industries. |
1950 | Genrich Altshuller developed the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ). |
1951 | Deming prize instituted. |
1951 | Juran published the first edition of “Quality Control Handbook.” |
1954 | Juran’s reputation in quality management led the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers to invite him to Japan. |
1960 | The first “quality control circles” were formed in Japan and simple statistical methods were used for quality improvement. |
1960s | The concept of Kaizen developed. |
1961-1964 | The concept of Poka Yoke developed by Shigeo Shingo. |
1966 | Dr. Yoji Akao introduced Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Methodology. |
1968 | Kaoru Ishikawa published the Guide to Quality Control. |
1969 | Dr. Shingo Shigeo, as part of JIT, pioneered the concept of Single Minute Exchange of Dies. |
1969 | Ishikawa emphasized the use of Seven Quality Tools. |
1969 | ASQC co-sponsors the first International Congress in Quality Control, hosted by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers in Tokyo. |
1970s | Dr. Taguchi promoted the concept of Quality Loss Function. |
1977 | International Association for Quality Circles founded. |
1979 | BS 5750 was issued. This was later replaced with ISO 9001:1987. |
| 1979 | Philip Crosby published his book “Quality is Free.” |
24 June 1980 | NBC aired the television documentary “If Japan Can, Why Can’t We?. |
1980s | Professor Noriaki Kano developed the Kano model which classifies customer preferences into five categories: Attractive, One-Dimensional, Must-Be, Indifferent, Reverse. |
1982 | In Out of the Crisis, published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. |
1986 | Six Sigma formulated by Bill Smith in Motorola. |
1986 | Masaaki Imai established the Kaizen Institute to help Western companies introduce Kaizen concepts, systems and tools. |
15 March 1987 | ISO issued the first version of the ISO 9000 series. (ISO 9001:1987) |
1987 | Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was established. |
1988 | Motorola becomes the first company to win Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. |
15 September 1988 | Presidents of 14 European companies came together to create the European Foundation for Quality Management. |
1994 | QS9000 quality standard developed by a joint effort of the ‘Big Three’ automakers, General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford. |
1994 | ISO issued the second version of the ISO 9000 series. (ISO 9001:1994) |
1995 | General Electric (GE) launched the Six Sigma initiative. |
1997 | ASQC drops ‘Control’ from its name, becomes ASQ. |
1999 | ISO/TS 16949 1st Edition was released. |
2000 | ISO issued the third version of the ISO 9000 series. (ISO 9001:2000) |
2008 | ISO issued the fourth version of the ISO 9000 series. (ISO 9001:2008) |
2015 | ISO issued the fifth version of the ISO 9000 series. (ISO 9001:2015) |
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