ABSTRACT
In Japan, quality control (QC) or quality assurance (QA) is dened as the development, design, manufacture, and service of products that will satisfy the consumer’s needs at the lowest possible cost. As the denition implies, the customer’s satisfaction with product quality is an end in itself at Toyota. At the same time, however, product quality is an indispensable part of the Toyota Production System, since without quality control the continuous ²ow of production (synchronization) would be impossible.
