Nature and Origin of Standards of Quality

J A N U A R Y 1958 American Telephone and Telegraph Company NUMBER 1 T h i s issue of The Bell System Technical Journal is d e v o t e d to a selection of articles dealing w i t h various phases of m a t h ematical statistics and quality control. The Editorial Board a n d E d i t o r i a l S t a f f o f t h e Journal p r e s e n t t h i s " a l l s t a t i s t i c s " i s s u e i n t h e belief t h a t t h e g r o w i n g i m p o r t a n c e o f s t a t i s t i c s to communication technology warrants the simultaneous publication of these articles. The Editors are pleased to include in this series of papers on statistical subjects one by Dr. Walter A. Shewliart whose pioneering work in statistical quality control has served as an impetus to wider use of statistical methods in the Bell System . This paper, which dates back to 1935, was one of a series of internal technical memoranda of the Quality Assurance Department of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. It was prepared by Dr. Shewhart in the course of a series of departmental group discussions having to do with the development of the fundamental philosophies of quality control and quality assurance.