Developments to Watch

RESEARCHING THE NITTY-GRITTY OF QUALITY CONTROL

CORPORATE AMERICA AND the National Science Foundation are putting $9 million over three years into rigorous research on quality improvement. The aim is to get beyond anecdotes and find out what methods dependably improve quality and over-all corporate performance.

The studies resemble work that the Japanese Union of Scientists & Engineers, sponsor of the annual Deming Prize, has conducted since the 1960s, says David B. Luther, president of the American Society for Quality Control, a co-sponsor of the project along with the Total Quality Forum. Says Luther: "For the first time, we're going after no-kidding results."EDITED BY PETER COY