No doubt we've all heard the apocryphal story of the Japanese component supplier which was allowed a faulty component rate of 3 per 10,000 per order. So they enclosed a note with the first delivery, stating that they had packaged the three faulty parts separately so that they could be easily identified. Dates back to the eighties I think - possibly the seventies. No doubt fanciful - but certainly rang true with me in my former motor industry career, as a reflection of Japanese car and component quality and attention to detail, after a decade of tearing my hair out over good ol' British Leyland "quality"control and customer-led product development!
