System for optimizing production based on ideas developed by Japanese industries from the 1950s on.
The system, which blends Western and Eastern ideas, began with the concept of quality circles, in which groups of 1020 workers were given responsibility for the quality of the products they produced. It gradually evolved into various techniques involving both workers and managers to maximize productivity and quality, including close monitoring of staff and excellent customer service. The concept of kaizen , the notion that improvement must involve all members of a company, is central to TQC. See also production management .