JAPAN'S QC CIRCLES.

The QC Circle can be defined as a group of production workers and working foremen who voluntarily join efforts in the solution of production-quality-maintenance problems. The basic objectives of the QC Circles are to encourage first-line supervisors to educate themselves and to develop leadership and supervisory qualities, include all workers, raise the morale of the shop, carry quality control to the ultimate degree, and encourage and develop employees' self-awareness of what quality is, what problems may arise, and what to do about them, and serve as a means of unifying companywide QC activities, provide a nucleus of personnel within each shop to work toward clarifying the understanding of management policy associated with quality, and stabilize workmanship habits in order to meet quality standards.