The Seven Traditional tools of Quality Control

There are seven basic quality tools, which can assist an organization for problem solving and
process improvements. The first guru who proposed seven basic tools was Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa in 1968, by
publishing a book entitled “Gemba no QC Shuho”(Guide to Quality Control) that was concerned
managing quality through techniques and practices for Japanese firms. It was intended to be applied for
“self-study, training of employees by foremen or in QC reading groups in Japan. It is in this book that the
seven basic quality control tools were first proposed.
1) Check sheets; 2) Graphs (Trend Analysis); 3) Histograms; 4) Pareto charts; 5) Cause-and-
effect diagrams; 6) Scatter diagrams; 7) Control charts

1Check Sheets/Tally Sheets

 According to Oakland (2003) It is a simple form for collecting data in an organized
manner and easily convert it into readily useful information.
 The function of a check sheet is to present information in an efficient, graphical format.
 A check sheet is a table or a form used to systematically register data as it is collected.
 Check sheets help organize data by category
 They show how many times each particular value occurs, and their information is increasingly
helpful as more data are collected.
 Main applications of a check sheet include registering how often different problems occur and
registering the frequency of incidents that are believed to cause problems.
Advantages of using a check sheet:
 Effective way of displaying data
 Easy to use
 Can identify the root cause of a problem
 A first step in the construction of other graphical tools
 Provides a structure for uniform data collection
 Can be used to substantiate or refute allegations

2 Histograms
 Oakland (2003) stated that histograms show, in a very clear pictorial way, the frequency with
which a certain value or group of values occurs.
 They can be used to display both attribute and variable data, and are an effective means of
letting the people who operate the process know the results of their efforts.
Advantages of using Histogram:
 Visually strong. Gives immediate information
 Can be compared to a normal distribution curve when the data is large
 Vertical axis is used to represent count of items falling into each category
Disadvantages of Histogram:
 Exact values are not known as the data is grouped into categories/groups to draw the bar graph
 Difficult to compare two data sets
 Use only with continuous data
 Representation of the frequency distribution depends upon the number of categories selected.
 Multiple histograms can be drawn for the same data making it difficult to read and interpret.
3 Scatter Diagrams
 A scatter diagram is a tool for analyzing relationships between two variables. One variable is
plotted on the horizontal axis and the other is plotted on the vertical axis.
 The pattern of their intersecting points can graphically show relationship patterns. Most often a
scatter diagram is used to prove or disprove cause-and-effect relationships.
 While the diagram shows relationships, it does not by itself prove that one variable causes the
other.
 In addition to showing possible cause and-effect relationships, a scatter diagram can show that
two variables are from a common cause that is unknown or that one variable can be used as a
surrogate for the other.

4 Control Charts
 A control chart is a statistical tool used to distinguish between variation in a process resulting
from common causes and variation resulting from special causes. It presents a graphic display of
process stability or instability over time.
 One goal of using a Control Chart is to achieve and maintain process stability.
What are the types of Control Charts?
 There are two main categories of Control Charts, those that display attribute data, and those
that display variables data.
 Attribute Data: This category of Control Chart displays data that result from counting the
number of occurrences or items in a single category of similar items or occurrences. These
“count” data may be expressed as pass/fail, yes/no, or presence/absence of a defect.
 Variables Data: This category of Control Chart displays values resulting from the measurement
of a continuous variable. Examples of variables data are elapsed time, temperature, and
radiation dose.
Why use Control Charts?
 Control Charts help you monitor the behavior of your process to determine whether it is stable.
 A team will benefit from using a Control Chart when it wants to:
 Monitor process variation over time.
 Differentiate between special cause and common cause variation.
 Assess the effectiveness of changes to improve a process.
 Communicate how a process performed during a specific period.
5 Pareto Analysis
• Pareto analysis is used to differentiate between the vital few and the trial many.
• It is based on the concept that 80% of the problems come from 20% of the items.
• Pareto analysis shows where process improvement should begin- those problem area with the
greater frequency
6 Cause And Effect Diagram
 A Cause-and-Effect Diagram, also known as a "Fishbone Diagram“ or the Ishikawa diagram is a
graphical technique for grouping people's ideas about the causes of a problem.
 The cause and effect diagram is used to explore all the potential or real causes (inputs) that
result in a single effect (output).
  Causes in a cause & effect diagram are frequently arranged into four major categories:
 manpower, methods, materials, and machinery (for manufacturing)
 equipment, policies, procedures, and people (for administration and service).
Steps In a Cause And Effect Diagram
There are namely 4 steps in a cause and effect diagram:
 identify the problem's characteristics
 brainstorm the reasons why the problem is occurring using a Causal Table (also known as the
Why-Because Technique)
 group the causes by relationship using an Affinity Technique
 create a Cause-and-Effect Diagram

7 Stratification / Flow chart

 Oakland (2003) stated that stratification is simply dividing a set of data into meaningful groups.
 It can be used to great effect in combination with other techniques, including histograms and
scatter diagrams. If, for example, three shift teams are responsible for a certain product output
‘stratifying’ the data into the shift groups might produce histograms that indicate ‘process
adjustments’ were taking place at shift changeovers.