Point III: Ceasing Dependence upon Mass Inspection

A chief asset of management is to cease dependence upon inspection to achieve quality
. In other words, quality is derived from improving the system rather than inspecting for quality. Once the system is improved then the quality will also.

When many inspectors are hired to inspect the individual products the problem of passing defective products to consumers worsens because nearly every inspector assumes to some degree that a minimum inspection of so many products is enough. The usual mindset to a certain extent is that a past inspector should have already found the defect or future inspectors should find it if he or she had missed the mistake.

Plus an inspection cannot put quality into a defected product. It can only stop the defected product from advancing further. However, when a product is designed with quality, it can pass an infinite number of inspectors who rank it as high quality.

The reason the product is a defect depends on the design that promotes the quality instead of the inspectors noticing the defects (Drummond, 1992, p. 24). This in no manner means that inspection should cease, but it does provide that the dependence on inspection should.