Achieving A New Level of Outstanding Quality

Fast forward to the early 2000s, and Japan found itself facing a string of corporate scandals, including hidden recalls by domestic automakers and even quality issues turning up in the food industry, which eventually became major social issues. This was the result of a company-centered approach that concealed the truth and neglected to address sloppy quality control and market quality issues. Even in a blue-chip company, quality issues could quickly cause it to lose all credibility and threaten its very survival. Honda was certainly no exception, and with the number of customer complaints on the rise, together with the time required to analyze the causes of each problem that arose, this made it absolutely necessary for Honda to dedicate itself to constantly improving quality in order to win the continued trust of its customers.
“With customer interest and demand for quality increasing, now is the time for all of us to implement reforms that will dramatically improve quality at all levels.”
- Honda president Hiroyuki Yoshino
In 2001, at a meeting attended by management staff, a discussion was held on how to make it possible to achieve a new level of outstanding quality. Customer satisfaction had long been the origin of Honda’s corporate activities, and it was Honda’s philosophy since its founding that quality take precedence over everything else. In April of 2001, a message was sent out to all associates asking them to be more vigilant about quality control, while at the same time establishing the Quality Innovation Center as a company function designed to lead and support the concept of quality on a global level.
The following year, Hiroyuki Yoshino, then president of Honda, told his associates: “It is, of course, vitally important to continue improving quality. However, I want everyone working at Honda to recognize and put into practice the principle of putting ourselves in our customer’s shoes, and responding quickly when problems occur. The Honda brand is highly regarded and trusted around the world due to the high quality of its products... We intend to take on challenges both hard and soft in the hopes of realizing a new level of outstanding quality as our most important issue.”

Outstanding Quality Committee

In 2002, President Yoshino issued a statement to all associates about efforts to improve quality, and in 2005 Koichi Fukuo was appointed executive officer in charge of quality and certification, further strengthening these efforts.
“We have begun efforts to return to the basics of manufacturing in order to ensure a new level of outstanding quality in everything we do. However, we have not yet reached the point where we can be satisfied with the resulting quality.”
- Honda R&D, Co. president Koichi Fukuo
Efforts were further made to strengthen the quality control system by persuading each division to strive for a new level of outstanding quality. Specifically, new organizations were established in the E (Production) and D (Development) sections of Honda’s automobile business. Additionally, the DEB Quality Conference was established as a cross-divisional coordinating committee chaired by the company president. This conference body became the driving force behind the creation of a company-wide structure of outstanding quality, in which Sales, Production, Development, Purchasing, and Quality departments (SEDBQ) not only proposed, but reaped the rewards of measures taken to achieve a new level of outstanding quality.
After numerous initiatives were implemented and a system was subsequently established, the new Outstanding Quality development program began with the launch of the 2006 Honda Civic.

First on-site physical inspection meeting

Never Pass Failures on to the Customers

“The first place we began was by ensuring quality through drawings. The development department drew up drawings that clearly incorporated the designer’s intentions, and the factory was responsible for manufacturing to the specifications of those drawings, and ensuring quality throughout the manufacturing process. Quality could only improve if we made this clear and established this system.”
In this way, Operating Officer Fukuo demonstrated a policy of thoroughly implementing the basics of design and manufacturing. He made up his mind to continue under the banner of reform in the area of development by returning to the origins of product manufacturing, and building quality into the manufacturing process. However, Fukuo himself, who had been deeply involved in the design department for many years, was sorely aware of how difficult this task was.
“Over the more than 20 years of experience I’ve had making drawings, I’ve made a mountain of mistakes. In fact, this has always been a fundamental problem. Development simply can’t evolve without failure. It’s only through repeated failures that we can come to understand problems and the secrets of automobile manufacturing. However, the bottom line is that such failures should never be passed on to our customers. As in all fields, the most important thing is keeping examples of past failures and providing feedback to the manufacturing source in order that these problems do not occur again. Honda is a manufacturing company, so we need to build up a good relationship between our R&D centers and our factories, and continually strengthen the system so that they can cross swords with each other.”
People make mistakes. However, experience can be built upon by taking advantage of such failures and learning to deal with them. The goal of “120% product quality” is based on the assumption that people make mistakes.

The Urgency of Building Relationships with Suppliers

This commitment to a new level of outstanding quality was not limited to Honda’s internal or domestic operations. In order to improve the quality of its finished products, it was only natural that further improvements also be pursued in the quality of the parts used, which includes quality issues with parts made by outside suppliers.
Honda’s R&D and manufacturing facilities were working together since the early planning stage to integrate their own quality awareness going back to the source, and results finally began to be seen in the 2006 Honda Civic. Obviously, the company couldn’t aim for “120% product quality” unless this trend was extended to the relationship between developers and the actual manufacturers of the parts and components being used. So, it became imperative to involve the suppliers in the development stage, and build a relationship where work could be done together while discussing issues as they arose.
Overseas, most of the parts made for its motorcycles and Power Products were already being procured locally, so it became especially important to build stronger relationships. In order to ensure the full cooperation of its suppliers, Honda itself needed to set a good example, and to achieve its goal of a new level of outstanding quality the company further needed to strengthen its internal and external cooperation, and become more aware of the source of any problems, no matter how small.

Eliminating Piecemeal Corporate Culture

The release of the 2006 Civic saw a much more positive response to its pursuit of a new level of outstanding quality. Engineers at the Suzuka Factory worked with incredible passion to create this new car. And they established a systematic quality control system that would ensure no mistakes regardless of who was in charge by going back to the source with a serious determination to never give up, with the result that great results were achieved.
As Yoshitaka Sano, then chief inspection engineer at the Suzuka Factory recalled, “Frankly, previous to the 2006 Civic, our corporate culture had us putting out fires left and right as they sprang up.”
The staff involved in the project were unanimous in their response. Since this process was not designed for consistency, their only recourse was to respond to and eliminate problems as they arose. Meaning that this was certainly not a process that anyone could perform. More systematic and universally applicable measures were needed in order to protect quality.
Based on this thinking, Honda introduced both Manufacturing Quality Standards (MQS) ^*1 and Process Assurance Capability Verification (PAC-V).^*2 Although some version of Process Assurance Capability Verification had been conducted in the past, it did not produce the desired results because the inspectors, who were not on the actual assembly line, dealt with each problem separately as it occurred, and their experience was not conveyed to the shop floor, so the same defects could reoccur elsewhere in the assembly process.
Fundamentally, in workplaces like the assembly line, where human skills play a critical role, the people who actually do the work need to be able to accumulate experience dealing with problems.
Honda launched a quality management system based on this idea for the first time, allowing the inspection and verification of the company’s own production processes. Although there was much confusion at first, with careful maintenance production quality began to see steady improvements. As a result, the number of serious quality problems was dramatically reduced to barely one-fourth of what turned up in 2000.
However, even after the start of this Outstanding Quality development program, quality problems would still crop up unexpectedly. Analysis indicated that sometimes workers weren't carefully maintaining or observing directions for certain processes, which led to the question, “Why weren’t these instructions being followed?” One reason seemed to be that the instructions contained elements that could be easily misunderstood, depending on the person.
For example, the admonition, “Replace when worn” could lead to different interpretations of what degree of wear is considered “worn.” Therefore, a new production management method was adopted in order to make sure that anyone could see - in this case a wear limit - at a glance, such as the grooves on a jig’s positioning pins. This sort of innovation enabled workers to manage their jobs using their own eyes, which also led to greatly improved motivation and attention to detail.
In this way, based on the assumption that people are going to make mistakes, new manufacturing methods were devised as a way to minimize defects and misassemble by making improvements that were frequently suggested by people on the actual assembly line. People do make mistakes, but given guidance they are still capable of achieving great things. Improvement, however, is only possible when people are thinking. In the end, it’s still people’s thinking and skills that maintain the ultimate in quality.
The introduction of the call system to stop the line during production also made a significant contribution to quality control. At first, people felt reluctant to stop the line because they felt that their personal pride would never allow them to do such a thing, or they worried that they might be widely criticized. However, as associates became more determined to concentrate on the goal of achieving a new level of outstanding quality, the entire workplace began to change.
Until everyone’s thinking came together as one, there was no way to realize this new level they were striving for. By finding the number of times that the line was stopped by the call system, and the specific location of the problem, processes that required improvement became clearer and clearer. Until that time, when a problem occurred, someone was simply called over to fix whatever the problem was without stopping the line. However, this approach never solved the actual problem. Only the end results of the problem had been resolved, and only as it was found. What was completely overlooked was the importance of solving the fundamental process problems.
When later surveyed about the introduction of the call system, 80% of Honda’s assembly line associates responded that it was “a good idea.” This not only led to further quality improvements, but also to a better working environment.
Additionally, most of the associate working on the production lines at Honda’s overseas plants are locally-hired associates, so it’s important to create and maintain easily understood work standards that can be followed by virtually anyone. For example, if as many as seven or eight different management items are competing with each other for attention, this makes it difficult to follow them. By reducing the number of management items, or even eliminating them entirely by introducing a simple system such as posting instructions like “Pass through here” or “Use this jig,” much of the extra burden on workers can be avoided. Honda set out to create a system where anyone could maintain the same high quality in virtually any situation, no matter who did the job.

Call button for call system introduced to realize “a new level of outstanding quality” The line is stopped If there is a defect in the process.

The release of the 2006 Civic saw a much more positive response to its pursuit of a new level of outstanding quality. Engineers at the Suzuka Factory worked with incredible passion to create this new car. And they established a systematic quality control system that would ensure no mistakes regardless of who was in charge by going back to the source with a serious determination to never give up, with the result that great results were achieved.
As Yoshitaka Sano, then chief inspection engineer at the Suzuka Factory recalled, “Frankly, previous to the 2006 Civic, our corporate culture had us putting out fires left and right as they sprang up.”
The staff involved in the project were unanimous in their response. Since this process was not designed for consistency, their only recourse was to respond to and eliminate problems as they arose. Meaning that this was certainly not a process that anyone could perform. More systematic and universally applicable measures were needed in order to protect quality.
Based on this thinking, Honda introduced both Manufacturing Quality Standards (MQS) ^*1 and Process Assurance Capability Verification (PAC-V).^*2 Although some version of Process Assurance Capability Verification had been conducted in the past, it did not produce the desired results because the inspectors, who were not on the actual assembly line, dealt with each problem separately as it occurred, and their experience was not conveyed to the shop floor, so the same defects could reoccur elsewhere in the assembly process.
Fundamentally, in workplaces like the assembly line, where human skills play a critical role, the people who actually do the work need to be able to accumulate experience dealing with problems.
Honda launched a quality management system based on this idea for the first time, allowing the inspection and verification of the company’s own production processes. Although there was much confusion at first, with careful maintenance production quality began to see steady improvements. As a result, the number of serious quality problems was dramatically reduced to barely one-fourth of what turned up in 2000.
However, even after the start of this Outstanding Quality development program, quality problems would still crop up unexpectedly. Analysis indicated that sometimes workers weren't carefully maintaining or observing directions for certain processes, which led to the question, “Why weren’t these instructions being followed?” One reason seemed to be that the instructions contained elements that could be easily misunderstood, depending on the person.
For example, the admonition, “Replace when worn” could lead to different interpretations of what degree of wear is considered “worn.” Therefore, a new production management method was adopted in order to make sure that anyone could see - in this case a wear limit - at a glance, such as the grooves on a jig’s positioning pins. This sort of innovation enabled workers to manage their jobs using their own eyes, which also led to greatly improved motivation and attention to detail.
In this way, based on the assumption that people are going to make mistakes, new manufacturing methods were devised as a way to minimize defects and misassemble by making improvements that were frequently suggested by people on the actual assembly line. People do make mistakes, but given guidance they are still capable of achieving great things. Improvement, however, is only possible when people are thinking. In the end, it’s still people’s thinking and skills that maintain the ultimate in quality.
The introduction of the call system to stop the line during production also made a significant contribution to quality control. At first, people felt reluctant to stop the line because they felt that their personal pride would never allow them to do such a thing, or they worried that they might be widely criticized. However, as associates became more determined to concentrate on the goal of achieving a new level of outstanding quality, the entire workplace began to change.
Until everyone’s thinking came together as one, there was no way to realize this new level they were striving for. By finding the number of times that the line was stopped by the call system, and the specific location of the problem, processes that required improvement became clearer and clearer. Until that time, when a problem occurred, someone was simply called over to fix whatever the problem was without stopping the line. However, this approach never solved the actual problem. Only the end results of the problem had been resolved, and only as it was found. What was completely overlooked was the importance of solving the fundamental process problems.
When later surveyed about the introduction of the call system, 80% of Honda’s assembly line associates responded that it was “a good idea.” This not only led to further quality improvements, but also to a better working environment.
Additionally, most of the associate working on the production lines at Honda’s overseas plants are locally-hired associates, so it’s important to create and maintain easily understood work standards that can be followed by virtually anyone. For example, if as many as seven or eight different management items are competing with each other for attention, this makes it difficult to follow them. By reducing the number of management items, or even eliminating them entirely by introducing a simple system such as posting instructions like “Pass through here” or “Use this jig,” much of the extra burden on workers can be avoided. Honda set out to create a system where anyone could maintain the same high quality in virtually any situation, no matter who did the job.

The challenge of maintaining a new level of outstanding quality on the production floor continued with the gradual accumulation of a wide range of efforts and measures. Efforts made with the determination to never give up finally began to produce results.
At first, many on the shop floor wondered if it was even possible. The reason for this was that the number of quality defects needed to be reduced to one-tenth of what it had been before. This was considered impossible as an extension of day-to-day efforts, and could only be achieved by fundamentally changing the way things had been done up to that point. However, through a series of improvements and process reviews, workers found that they were gradually able get closer and closer to achieving the goal.
If this approach were to be deployed globally, the level of quality achieved with the 2006 Civic would be the mother of it all. So, how could a standard be set for a new level of outstanding quality from which there would be no turning back? The goal still lied ahead, with no end in sight for the challenge.

• Manufacturing Quality Standard (MQS): A standard that defines the required quality as control items, and the criteria for each part, process, and operation in order to prevent manufacturing quality defects and achieve conformity.
• Process Assurance Capability Verification (PAC-V): In order to prevent manufacturing quality defects, quality requirements are verified and quality improvement activities are conducted by defining the requirements as control items along with the control criteria for each part, process, and operation.