[brityank]

... Japan was the innovator in quality assurance after the war, taught by Dr. W Edwards Deming. ^

[GAB-1955]

Yes, Deming taught it. The U.S. companies didn't listen. Japan did. Ford didn't adapt standard quality assurance until 1970. The result? Japanese companies took a large share of the world's car markets.

Furthermore, the Japanese took the concept Deming initially taught and expanded it and refined it. As I noted, Japanese companies introduced the concept of kaizen teams to work on quick process improvement, or poka-yoke, which is designing things to make them mistake-proof. Americans added "lean" design. Both nations innovated "just-in-time."

For a smaller economy to succeed, it must learn to specialize. Japan in the 1950s and 1960s was going for the main chance and exploiting the mistakes other Western economies made, such as the U.S. auto industry's insistence on planned obsolescence and Switzerland's disinterest in quartz watches. They are still leaders in cars and robotics.

The U.S. leads in aerospace among other industries, and needs to make sure its workforce can learn these techniques.