Alfredo Piñeyro López: el rector de mano dura, 1979-

You may have noticed some things missing in this discussion. We have talked about how quality was maintained in ancient times, but not how was it created in the first place, or improved. How was quality first created or improved in ancient times? The answer comes down to one word: genius. The particular cre- ativity, innovative skill, drive, and talent of a single individual or an inspiring teacher or leader would lead to improvements. If those improvements were accepted, they were passed along. But there was no standard way of making improvements happen. That didn’t come along until the scientific revolution, just a few hundred years ago.

When things don’t improve, they tend to deteriorate. Before the scientific rev- olution, there were two opposing forces acting on the quality of the products and services created for society. Genius, plus people’s desire for quality—the desire to get more value—tended to make things better. Human fallibility—the ability to make errors—and the lack of response to change, tended to make things worse. If someone solved a problem and the solution was accepted, things got better. If a good method was forgotten, or circumstances changed but people kept working in the same old way, things got worse. And there were no rules or methods that

showed that one thing was definably, measurably better than another. So, if two people both came up with a change, the better change might not be accepted. Maybe the person with the change that wasn’t as good was a friend of the king. When things got better or worse, it was often the luck of the draw.

Q-UP

Is Your Company Following the Ancient Way?

Even today, many companies only improve through genius, and through a hit-or-miss political process of acceptance of new ideas. What’s true for your company? Do bet- ter methods get adopted? When and how? Is there a defined process for proposing an improvement, demonstrating it is better, and then putting it in place? If not, then your company is missing out on almost 200 years of good business practice. Keep reading; Quality Management Demystified will be a big help.

In spite of this, we can observe some quality principles at work. Certain things work well due to unchanging principles of nature. For example, all roads—whatever they are made of—are worn by rain pouring down and running off them, by the effects of water and gravity. As a result, the way to make a durable road will always be a way of building a road that handles water well. The ancient Romans discovered this, and there are Roman roads over 1400 years old that you can still walk today. The Roman roads were built in four layers. The bottom had large stones. Above that, there are broken stones: Pebbles and sand were mixed with cement to form a strong base. The third layer was made of cement and broken tile. The top was carved paving stones, laid closely together to create a flat surface. At the side, curb stones held the paving stones in place and gave a channel for water to run off.

Today, a good road is made in almost the same way. The modern road was invented by John Louis MacAdam in the early 1800s, and it bears his name: macadam. The lowest layers are made of large, broken stones. Then there is a layer of finer stone. The road is sloped and ditches are added at the side to pro- vide drainage. The only change to the roads since the early 1800s is that, when cars were invented, they went fast enough to pull dust up from the road. This was solved by spraying the road with tar, creating today’s black roads made of macadam with tar, or tarmac.

At first, it seems surprising that the ancient Roman roads are so similar to today’s superhighways. But, on reflection, it makes a lot of sense. Most of the problem—to create a flat surface for wheeled vehicles that would last a long time—hasn’t changed. As a result, most of the solution hasn’t changed, either.

We use a mix of larger and smaller stones in layers, and shape the road to let rainwater run off. The one new problem—air suction from fast vehicles—was solved by a new solution: tar. As we look at quality engineering and quality busi- ness processes throughout this book, we will see this over and over again. Lasting principles lead to similar methods to achieve good results, but the best application of those principles changes in different situations.

EYE ON THE BALL

Universal Principles Applied in Changing Circumstances

High quality is always achieved by an understanding of universal, unchanging princi- ples combined with a practical application of those unchanging principles to changing circumstances. This is as true of quality in method—business practices—as it is of quality in technique—artistic or engineering practices.

Conclusion: