品質月間テーマ

COVID-19 has finally moved on to the next stage, although it cannot be said to have been settled, as wearing a mask is no longer mandatory and the disease has been moved to Category 5 of the Infectious Disease Control Law.

Some people are happy that they can now return to their normal lives, but even if COVID-19 is settled, it is unlikely that we will ever completely return to the world as we knew it. The past three years have brought many changes in working styles and lifestyles, and a new paradigm for quality creation in the industrial world is required to adapt to this new era.

Some of the various measures taken in response to COVID-19 were stopgap measures, while others are essential measures that will be permanently effective in the future. It is necessary to distinguish what must truly be changed from what must not be changed, and to search for a new paradigm for quality creation. Therefore, we set "Back to the Basics! Quality in a New Era Created by Human Resource Development and Strong Workplaces" as the theme for this year's Quality Month.

The message of "Back to the Basics" is to take a fresh look at what needs to be done to create quality that satisfies customers, and it is precisely because we are now in the midst of the upheaval of COVID-19 that we should return to the basics and clarify what universal concepts and activity foundations we should steadily adhere to. Among these, human resource development and on-site capabilities, which are the strengths of TQM, are indispensable foundations for quality creation.

However, the methodologies that have been established up to now are not sufficient for how to implement them, and it will be necessary to develop new methodologies while incorporating DX, AI, and other technologies. This Quality Month, as we start the post-COVID-19 period, we would like to take this opportunity to go back to the basics and think about the direction we should aim for in the future.