The Road to Quality Control
The Industrial Application of Statistical Quality Control by Homer M. Sarasohn
1. Edition March 2019
160 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Further versions
Professor Woodall's essay shows that this book represents a remarkable contribution, even by today's standards, because of its contemporary thinking about the relationship between the specific topic of SQC and the broader company context of Quality Management. It also demonstrates the remarkable awareness of at least some young US engineers in the post-war period about the vital role of Statistical Quality Control in establishing and maintaining a competitive position. The book reveals that there was unsuspected knowledge extant immediately post-war, about the importance of Statistical Quality Control when appropriately applied in an industrial setting. It also helps to correct wide-spread historical misconceptions about who specifically was responsible for helping Japanese industry get back on its feet post-war, a task assigned to General Douglas Macarthur by President Truman and how Macarthur was indebted to Sarasohn.
I Introduction 1
Preface 1
Step 1. Establishing the Quality Standard 3
Step 2. Establishing a Section to Evaluate Quality 5
Step 3. Establishing Inspection Standards 6
Step 4. Selection of Inspection Methods 7
Step 5. Investigation of the Current State of Quality 9
Technical Terms Used in Quality Control 11
II Probability and Statistical Inference 17
Measures of Central Tendency 21
Measure of Variability 24
III Sampling Inspection 43
Specifying an Acceptable Proportion of Defective Items 54
IV Application of Sampling Inspection 63
V Quality Control of the Production Process 75
Appendix: Statistical Tables for Sampling Inspection 95
SL Table-1.0, DL Table 5, SA Table-10.0, DA Table-1.0 (From "Sampling Inspection Tables" by Dodge, H.F. and Romig, H.G.)
Thoughts on The Road to Quality Control - The Industrial Application of Statistical Quality Control by Homer M. Sarasohn 101
W. H.Woodall
Introduction 101
Quality Management 102
Use of Acceptance Sampling 104
Control Chart Methods 104
Theory vs. Practice 105
Some Other Books of the Era 106
Conclusions 106
References 107
Homer Sarasohn and American Involvement in the Evolution of Quality Management in Japan, 1945-1950 109
N.I. Fisher
1 Introduction 109
2 Events Prior to 1945 110
2.1 Data 110
3 1945-1947 111
3.1 Data 111
3.1.1 Civil Communications Section (CCS) activities 111
3.1.2 Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) 116
3.1.3 Visits to Japan byW. Edwards Deming 116
3.2 Interpretation 117
4 1948-1950 117
4.1 Data 117
4.1.1 CCS activities 117
4.1.2 JUSE activities 126
4.1.3 Deming's activities 127
4.2 Interpretation 128
5 Conclusions 134
6 Key Sources of Information 136
Acknowledgements 136
References 137
Résumé 139
Appendix: Notes on the Text 139
Y. Tanaka is a Professor Emeritus of Statistics at Okayama University and involved in quality control as a member of the teaching and consulting staff of JSA (Japan Standard Association) seminar in Osaka.
W. H. Woodall is a Professor of Statistics at Virginia Tech and a former editor of the Journal of Quality Technology (2001-2003) and Associate Editor of Technometrics (1987-1995).
