WORLD VIEW:

A New Department in Quality Progress

Quality Progress, the monthly refereed journal of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), has a bimonthly department called “World View” devoted to international aspects of quality and productivity improvement. We are looking for authors to write short articles (approximately 1,500 words) on quality improvement initiatives around the world. This could include descriptions of professional organizations, national initiatives, training programs, or successful improvement projects. This is an opportunity for quality professionals outside the United States to showcase improvement activities to a worldwide audience.

The modern quality revolution, and the industrial revolution that preceded it, developed from an international exchange of ideas. Walter Shewhart¹ acknowledged the contributions of German authors. Deming took Shewhart s ideas (and some of his own) to Japan in 1950. At that time, many Japanese executives visited the United States to learn the secrets of U.S. productivity. By the early 1980s, however, the flow of visitors had reversed, with many U.S. executives visiting Japan to learn the secrets of Japanese quality. Today, quality improvement initiatives have touched virtually every aspect of human existence in all parts of the world. The increasing integration of the international economy increases the need and demand for a greater sharing of ideas. Many organizations with partners or vendors in other countries might like to know about quality improvement initiatives in those countries.

If you have a story to tell that gives a world view on quality and productivity improvement, we invite you to send us a manuscript. Submitted manuscripts will be subject to a peer-review process. To make contributing easier for those who think and write more easily in a language different from English, we are developing a system to permit an initial review of articles in other major international languages. If the reviewers think the article might be suitable for publication, the author will be asked to submit an English translation, which will be subject to additional review. Currently, we can consider drafts in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Hebrew, and English. We hope to add other languages in the future.

If you know about an event or an improvement experience outside the United States that might be of interest to the readers of Quality Progress, we would like to hear about it. Please send your manuscripts or questions to Sue Daniels, ASQ Quality Progress, 611 E. Wisconsin Ave., P.O. Box 3005, Milwaukee, WI 53201-3005 USA or e-mail sdaniels@asq.org.

Bibliography

1. Shewhart, Walter A., Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product (New York, NY: Van Nostrand, 1931).