The Seven Basic Tools of Quality

In 1950, the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) invited legendary quality guru
W. Edwards Deming to go to Japan and train hundreds of Japanese engineers, managers and
scholars in statistical process control. Deming also delivered a series of lectures to Japanese
business managers on the subject, and during his lectures, he would emphasize the importance of
what he called the basic tool that were available to use in quality control.

One of the members of the JUSE was Kaoru Ishikawa, at the time an associate professor at the
University of Tokyo. Ishikawa had a desire to democratize quality: that is to say, he wanted to
make quality control comprehensible to all workers, and inspired by Demings lectures, he
formalized the Seven Basic Tools of Quality Control.

Ishikawa believed that 90% of a companys problems could be improved using these seven tools,
and that - with the exception of Control Charts they could easily be taught to any member of
the organization. This ease-of-use combined with their graphical nature makes statistical analysis
easier for all. The seven tools are:

1. Cause and Effect Diagrams
2. Pareto Charts
3. Flow Charts
4. Check sheet
5. Scatter Plots
6. Control (Run) Charts
7. Histograms
Cause and effect diagram: It is popularly known as Fishbone diagram (as it looks like a
fishbone) or sometimes known as Ishikawas diagram. It is frequently used to find the root
causes of the defects. Whether the main issues are from hardware or it is from the software.
Whether the problem is from management or the problem is from skill set of the people. By
analyzing these you can get the root cause of the defects, thats why it is also known as root
cause analysis. If you are managing a long term project you should use this quality tool at the
utmost.






Pareto Chart: 80% of problems are due to 20% of the root causes. It is like prioritizing the
defects. Search for the main reason and try to reduce the maximum problems. This is frequently
used when you are in hurry and you have to reduce the defects as a project manager you
should know by which factors you are getting more problems and document it and try to find out
a way to remove these defects as by removing the same defects you will be able to reduce
maximum problems. It is based on the Joseph Jurans 80/20 principle. Pareto recommends that
this tool can be very useful if you are getting many errors frequently. As a project manager you
should detect an error which can resolve your maximum problems.










Flow Chart: It shows how the systems or processes flow from beginning to end and how are
they related to each other. Through it you can assess a particular process and analyze the
potential quality problems. It is an important tool to be used in so many project management
activities.









Check Sheet: A simple data collection form consisting of multiple categories with definitions.
Data are entered on the form with a simple tally mark each time one of the categories occurs. A
check sheet is a simple means of data collection. The most straightforward check sheet is simply
to make a list of items that you expect will appear in a process and to mark a check beside each
item when it does appear. This type of data collection can be used for almost anything, from
checking off the occurrence of particular types of defects to the counting of expected items.

Scatter Diagram: It is like trying to trace the relation between two variables. Like due to one
defect another defect is created maintaining a relationship.








Control (Run) Chart: It shows the trends of variations. If you need to assess the variable you
need to check your progress chart. You have to see the patterns of the variations.











Histogram: It is a graphical representation showing a visual impression of the distribution of
data. It displays data in the form of bars and columns. It shows what problems are in your
project.