I worked at Ford during his Administration on the Taurus Program as a Manufacturing Engineering Manager. Great Leader.
Very cool. Thanks for sharing that. I used to drive one of your cars, lol. Smart man. I've always admired Petersen. He "got it". I'm also a great admirer of Edwards Demming. I worked in the aerospace industry when people still cared. I saw the TQM policies in action and helped implement the program.
However, it depends on a workforce that gives and damn, and is proud of their work. No one signs off on anything until they are satisfied it's 100% right. Don't rely on inspectors—YOU ARE THE INSPECTOR!
TQM doesn't work if the employees bring an ingrained adversarial attitude to the job. The unions instill that altitude and once it is set, you can't train people out of it. That's why many of the manufacturing plants in the South do better. The workforce isn't poisoned by a zeitgeist that management is out to screw them.