Quality Tools for Process Improvement

The 7 quality tools are graphical techniques used to identify & solve issues related to product or process quality. The seven quality tools were conceptualized by Kaoru Ishikawa and are used for controlling and managing quality in organizations. 

• A check sheet is a generic tool in the form of a structured sheet for gathering and examining data.

• A histogram is a common graph that is used to know the frequency of distributions and interval of the happenings. The histogram is used for identifying specific improvement opportunities.

• A cause-and-effect diagram which is also known as fishbone diagrams is used for Identifying possible causes or reasons for an effect or problem and categorizing ideas to deal with them. This type of tool is used for operational planning.

• A Scatter diagram is used to explain the correlation between two variables to look for a relationship.

•  Stratification is a technique of separating data into smaller, more distinct strata based on a predetermined set of criteria.

• The Pareto diagram is a vertical bar graph of process problems in ranking order from the most frequent and significant, down to the least frequent and significant from left to right. The Pareto diagram was introduced by Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist who claimed that a huge amount of wealth is owned by a small percentage of the population. This basic idea was applied to quality problems that most of the quality problems are raised out of a few causes, that 80% of problems are caused by 20% of sources.

• A control chart is used for graphical presentation of the process changes over time based on statistical findings checking the consistency of process variation and unpredictability. The control chart includes a central line for the average, an upper line for the upper control limit, and a lower line for the lower control limit.