ABSTRACT
The key to discovering and eliminating defects are inspection procedures that give accurate and timely information about causes of defects. Statistical process control (SPC) is one such kind of inspection procedure: whenever a potential problem is detected, the place in the process where the problem likely originated is identified so the cause can be diagnosed and corrective action taken. There are, however, other kinds of inspection procedures and, argues Shigeo Shingo, the production expert, if the goal is to eliminate defects, these other kinds too, not SPC alone, must be employed.
