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034003-x_Ch02_Juran

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2.8

SECTION TWO

FIGURE 2.4 The Itoh model. [Adapted from Management for Quality, 4th ed. (1987). Juran Institute, Inc., Wilton, CT, p. 18.]

assumptions would be grossly in error. The processes used to manage for quality have undergone extensive change over the millennia, and there is no end in sight.

Primitive Societies
The Family. Quality is a timeless concept. The origins of ways to manage for quality are hidden in the mists of the ancient past. Yet we can be sure that humans have always faced problems of quality. Primitive food-gatherers had to learn which fruits were edible and which were poisonous. Primitive hunters had to learn which trees supplied the best wood for making bows or arrows. The resulting know-how was then passed down from generation to generation. The nuclear human organizational unit was the family. Isolated families were forced to create self-sufficiency—to meet their own needs for food, clothing, and shelter. There was division of work among family members. Production was for self-use, so the design, production, and use of a product were all carried out by the same persons. Whereas the technology was primitive, the coordination was superb. The same human beings received all inputs and took all remedial action. The limiting factor for achieving quality was the primitive state of the technology. The Village: Division of Labor. Villages were created to serve other essential human requirements such as mutual defense and social needs. The village stimulated additional division of labor and development of specialized skills. There emerged farmers, hunters, fishermen, and artisans of all sorts—weavers, potters, shoemakers. By going through the same work cycle over and over again, the artisans became intimately familiar with the materials used, the tools, the steps in the process, and the finished product. The cycle included selling the product to users and receiving their feedback on product performance. The experience derived from this intimate familiarity then enabled human ingenuity to take the first steps toward the evolution of technology. The Village Marketplace: Caveat Emptor. As villages grew, the village marketplace appeared, where artisans and buyers met on scheduled market days. In this setting, producer and user met face to face with the goods between them. The goods typically were natural products or were made from natural materials. The producers and purchasers had long familiarity with the products, and the quality of the products could to a high degree be judged by the unaided human senses.