Regardless of the industry or activity – whether commerce, durable goods manufacturing, or software development – the quality of what is delivered is crucial to a business’s success. And the best way to begin studying this subject is right at the beginning – in this case, by talking about its origins (as the old saying goes – which I believe is true: “Those who don’t know where they come from will hardly know where they are going”).
Throughout History
We often think of concern with quality as something related to the rise of mass production. However, historical records show that concern for quality dates back much further, to the advent of agriculture – when the quality of what was produced, stored, and transported directly impacted not only the survival of the producers themselves but also that of their communities – and subsequently, natural trade exchanges. As civilizations developed, we began to see the emergence of laws, standards, and decrees explicitly addressing quality – or the lack of it – across different peoples and cultures, with records going back centuries before Christ.
In chronological order:
- Prehistory: during the hunter-gatherer era, quality inspection of food was performed directly by the consumers;
- 12,000 ~ 8,000 B.C. – the advent of agriculture: with agriculture came inevitable trade, and the first methods of quality control likely emerged;
- ~2,500 BC (Ancient Egypt): royal inspectors verified the alignment and dimensions of stone blocks during pyramid construction using set squares and plumb lines. The royal cubit — a standardized measuring rod based on the pharaoh’s proportions — was distributed to workers and periodically recalibrated; deviations in measurement were punishable by death;
- 2000 B.C. (Babylonian Empire): the Code of Hammurabi (“lex talionis”) included punishments for consequences of poor quality: “(232) If a builder constructs a house for someone and does not build it properly, and the house collapses and kills the owner, that builder shall be put to death. (239) If it destroys property, he must compensate for all that was destroyed and, because he did not construct the house properly and it collapsed, he must rebuild it at his own expense.”;
- 1100 B.C. – 771 B.C. (China, Zhou Dynasty): “It is forbidden to sell utensils, carts, cotton and silk fabrics whose dimensions or quality requirements do not meet the standards”;
- 500 B.C. (Phoenicia): inspectors would amputate the hand of any manufacturer whose product did not meet government specifications;
- 207 B.C. (China, Qin Dynasty): decrees established that utensils of the same category should have identical measurements and tolerances. City walls came with a one-year guarantee – to be repaired at no cost to the state if necessary;
- 618 A.D. – 907 A.D. (China, Tang Dynasty): only bows, arrows, knives, and spears made according to the standards set by feudal officials could be sold, and these items had to be marked with the name of the workers on the product itself. Unmarked items were removed from circulation, and those responsible for non-compliant products were whipped or otherwise punished;
- 11th–15th centuries (Europe, medieval guilds): craft guilds established the first organized quality assurance systems in the Western world. The apprentice → journeyman → master progression ensured the transmission of technical standards across generations; goods were inspected before being sold and marked with the craftsman’s stamp — making producers traceable and directly accountable for the quality of what they delivered. Guilds could seize and publicly destroy merchandise that failed to meet standards.
There is also evidence of process control in the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, in Persian military organization, in the Roman Empire, and many other historical moments.
In Modern Times
Like almost everything in human history, the concern for quality evolved over time. It was with the Industrial Revolution and the advent of mass production that this age-old concern gained method, structure, and — for the first time — a dedicated managerial function. This historical evolution of quality is defined in periods — counted from the mid-eighteenth century onward — known as “The Eras of Quality” (GARVIN, 1988).
