抄録
There have been frequent serious accidents and corporate scandals recently. These are mainly caused by a lack of awareness toward quality. This has greatly shaken global trust in Japanese quality. The new Japanese Society for Quality Control SHINKA! 2020 mid–term plan was published in June 2015. This expresses the importance of strategically tackling five areas considering how quality control can contribute to the growth of Japan:
(1) Support for growth industries
(2) Deployment to SMEs
(3) Deployment to local/national governments
(4) Response to globalization
(5) Incorporation into the Basic Science and Technology Plan
The plan proposed three important elements considering what Japan should do with respect to overall quality control in the future:
(1) Deploy to new growth fields and nonmanufacturing industries in Japan
(2) Launch the Japan Association for Quality (JAQ)―a loose all-Japan umbrella organization concerning quality
(3) Build a structure to take the lead centered on “production”
