Over the past year, the accessories division of Black & Decker Corp. has changed its entire approach to quality control. This division, which makes blades for power saws and other tools at its Tampa, FL, plant, no longer relies on inspectors to check each blade before it is shipped. Instead, production workers must ensure that all blades meet corporate quality standards before they leave the production line.

"The mindset in the plant was that manufacturing was separate from quality," says Simon Barrett, the division's engineering manager. "In this day and age, we can't operate in that manner. We must have the mindset of getting things right the first time, and that means carrying out in-process inspections."