The Seven Quality Tools
1. Fishbone diagram
Fishbone diagram or chart also known as cause and effect or Ishikawa chart / diagram is a quality management tool which is mainly used where there is a requirement for organized and structured grouping, segmentation or categorization of information and data.
The fishbone analysis helps quality professionals to identify and analyze the main issues, problems and opportunities for improvement.
This tool is useful for identifying the potential causes for any problems and opportunities. It also helps during group brainstorming and team meetings.
2. Quality Control Charts
Quality control charts are used for tracking and monitoring data over time and analyzing the changes, trends and any out of control events. Control charts are also known as SPC or statistical process control charts
For more information on Quality Control Charts read this article
3. Histogram Chart
Histogram is used for analyzing and reporting frequency distribution of data. In simple terms this tool helps quality professionals analyze how often a particular value occurs in a sample data. This is a great tool for quick analysis of big sets of data and reveals important information in a visual and simple way for the users.
4. Pareto Chart
The Pareto Chart and Pareto Analysis are based on the Pareto rule or principle and it is also called the 80-20 rule. Based on this principle in most events or situations nearly 80% of the results occur as a result of 20% of the causes. Pareto is one of the most effective tool for prioritizing issues and problems as well as a starting point for many business analysis and quality improvements.
5. Scatter chart
Scatter diagram or scatter chart shows any potential relationship between any two variables. This quality tool is also called simply XY chart where X and Y axes use set of variables and the XY Chart visually represents if there is any relationship between X and Y and at the same time shows how strong is the particular relationship.
6. Stratification
Stratification is a quality tool used when quality professionals need to gather data from variety of sources for further analysis and reporting. In such a case, the data from different sources is organized together and in many cases this can be a challenge to get all the data in an organized and uniform way. Stratification is used to organize the data and identify any trends or patterns.
7. Check Sheet
The good old check sheet is often the best quality tool for gathering and analyzing data because of its simplicity and application to many business situations.