Rural washing machine failures with potato loads

Voice of the customer; the founding parable of going to the field rather than reading return forms.

The reason I have this picture of a washing machine here is, in the New American TQM, Professor Shiba tells the story: after World War Two there was a company that made washing machines — the old-style washing machines in the 1950s that had wringers. They were doing fine in the urban areas, but they kept having breakdowns in the rural areas. So they said, we want to find out what's going on in the rural areas and why the washing machines aren't working in the country. They sent someone out, and they found the problem: the farmers were washing potatoes rather than clothes. The machines were not designed for a load of potatoes. So this is where people got the idea of listening to the voice of the customer. The farmers were just sending things back saying, "Your washing machine broke down after one season." They didn't say it was potatoes. You actually had to go out and talk to people about it.