If Japan Can …

While researching for my masters in Quality Management (Lean Innovation) I was watching on YouTube the NBC Whitepaper entitled ‘If Japan Can Why Cant We?’ when the closing statements of Lloyd Dobyns of NBC caught my attention and triggered a question. The question began forming when I noted that the report was being aired on US TV during the previous double dip and deep recession of the early 80’s.

In the report, W. Edwards Deming (the now widely acknowledged godfather of much of the modern Quality Science movement) is sharing his radical enlightened wisdom and its successful application in Japan. Japanese Industries had clearly demonstrated that they had successfully understood how to best apply Deming’s teachings on route to Japan’s now recovering economy. Japan had learnt these lessons from the US professor as its failing industries continued to fight to recover from the world war II defeat and the relatively recent end to US occupation during the early 1950’s.

The report looks at the emerging quality thinking coming from a then revitalised Japan. This new thinking was rising above the ashes of cheap Japanese knock off’s of the past. Its velocity was now carrying industrial Japan soaring to new heights in quality standards. The success of which was now resulting in substantive X factor gains in productivity and major competitive advantage that far exceeded the levels historically achieved when it was ‘Made In The USA’ or anywhere else in the world for that matter.

NBC was asking the question “If Japan Can Why Can’t We”. The report carried no punches but the biggest hit I felt came in the closing statements of Lloyd Dobyns when he said …

“… what is happening to our productivity now (1980) comes at a particularly bad time as we recognise more human needs and try to meet them and our economy is suffering …”, “The united states has 20 times more lawyers than does Japan and we have more service industries and a huge government sector”, ‘Services are inherently less productive than manufacturing’, “we now have more service than manufacturing and that helps depress our productivity’, ‘manufacturing is a smaller percentage of our national economy than of any other industrial country and that makes productivity improvement even more difficult’.

“… Throughout our history parents have expected their children to live better than they did and that has always been true”, ‘Unless we solved the problem of productivity our children will be the first children in history to live worst than their parents”. Lloyd Dobyns, NBC News, 1980 – “If Japan Can Why Can’t We”.

This question crossed my mind at a time when I began to think about what Lloyd had said in his time when reflected upon in the context of our time. It is 2016 and we are told we are now emerging from a deep recession which began in 2008. This recession resulted in huge unemployment despite the dizzying new heights and gains across many industries. Many industries have soared and achieved these new highs in productivity through the successful application of quality science statistical quality control, management and improvement.

From those early first days in the 1980’s when global recognition of the substantive value was first being realised. I wonder if W. Edwards Deming who had evangelised a new way of thinking was to now reflect on its realisation today, would he celebrate or denigrate the lessons we have learnt?

My question is … have we fully understood his message and learnt the full breath and depth of his wisdom and the lessons he so wished us to learn?

If you would like to watch the full broadcast on YouTube – Click Here!

If you have a deeper interest in Quality Management or Deming and such, you may also enjoy my other Lean Learning Series Posts

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