The growth of commerce, science, and technology has greatly expanded the extent and variety of goods and services, helping many to lead longer, safer lives. However, this has also created a new dependency, with new risks that must be mitigated to prevent financial and cultural loss.

High quality has long been a goal common to all countries. Governing bodies have established quality standards that involve programs of regulation to which all organizations must adhere. In addition, the rise in lawsuits, with an accompanying rise in claims and damages, certainly argues for the importance of maintaining quality.

In modern industrial societies, people place their health and safety behind numerous protective “dikes” of quality control, as Joseph M. Juran described the process. Individuals and nations live behind these dikes and must deal with numerous breaks in them. While technology certainly offers benefits, it makes society dependent on its continued performance. Reliable quality is needed to protect against service interruptions, or even disasters.

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