Impact of Quality Circle – A Case Study

After second world war, most of the countries in the world had to face the problem of industrial development. Japan was worst hit and the industrial units in Japan were going from bad to worse and it was necessary for Japan to put their shattered economy back to the rails. To do so modern concept of quality control came to Japan after 1945, from USA, but it was only after 1955 that this system of management of quality control was actually implemented to the company from the bottom of the organization that could also share in the quality control function at the workshop level. Quality circle provides the employees at the bottom level to proceed towards the top level with opportunities to perform effectively and solving the daily problem of the unit. It this paper, the authors tried to study the impact of quality circle techniques through a case study dealing with causes of the material losses related to 4-Ms (man, machine, materials, methods), in a small production shop floor. The observed datas are analyzed through Pareto diagram and ‘Ishikawa diagram' and following results were obtained: Drastic reduction in materials wastage, average saving per year increased and financial losses were minimized, workers were motivated to keep and operate materials with care and prevent wastage, and good team relationship was built among the workman and management