History and Growth of Quality Engineering Studies 

－Overview of Studies Published in the Journal of RQES－

Abstract

Robust Quality Engineering Society (RQES) will celebrate the 20th anniversary in 2012. In a big turning point, analyses of 610 pieces of research papers published in the Journal of Quality Engineering Society from Vol.1, No1 to Vol.19, No.3 were conducted to clarify the spread of quality engineering research and the change of contents over 20 years, and to obtain some new issues or guidelines to challenge. In this paper, as the first step of research, the database structures were defined and analyses about the following classifications were worked out:the category of research paper, the content of subject matter, the methodology of quality engineering, industrial fields, lead and co-authors,professional affiliation, and the number of withdrawal from RQES of both award winners and non-winners ones. As a result, the following were high-lighted:New researches have been decreasing after the 10th anniversary. The number of case studies related to automobile and copying machine are especially conspicuous in all industrial fields. Hiroshi Yano's contribution to the growth of quality engineering and Robust Quality Engineering Society was quantitatively clarified. Furthermore, it was shown that the quality engineering awards motivate engineers to continue studying quality engineering.