Seven Basic Tools of Quality
The Seven Basic Tools of Quality is a designation given to a fixed set of graphical techniques identified as being most helpful in troubleshooting issues related to quality.[1] They are called basic because they are suitable for people with little formal training in statistics and because they can be used to solve the vast majority of quality-related issues.[2]:198
The tools are:[3]
- The cause-and-effect (a.k.a., "fishbone" or Ishikawa diagram)
- The check sheet
- The control chart
- The histogram
- The Pareto chart
- The scatter diagram
- Stratification (alternately flow chart or run chart)
The designation arose in postwar Japan, inspired by the seven famous weapons of Benkei.[4] At that time, companies that had set about training their workforces in statistical quality control found that the complexity of the subject intimidated the vast majority of their workers and scaled back training to focus primarily on simpler methods which suffice for most quality-related issues anyway.[2]:18
The Seven Basic Tools stand in contrast with more advanced statistical methods such as survey sampling, acceptance sampling, statistical hypothesis testing, design of experiments, multivariate analysis, and various methods developed in the field of operations research.[2]:199
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Montgomery, Douglas (2005). Introduction to Statistical Quality Control. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. pp. 148. ISBN 9780471656319. OCLC 56729567. http://www.eas.asu.edu/~masmlab/montgomery/.
- ^ a b c Ishikawa, Kaoru (1985), What Is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way (1 ed.), Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, ISBN 9780139524332, OCLC 11467749
- ^ Nancy R. Tague (2004). "Seven Basic Quality Tools". The Quality Toolbox. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: American Society for Quality. p. 15. http://www.asq.org/learn-about-quality/seven-basic-quality-tools/overview/overview.html. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
- ^ Ishikawa, Kaoru (1990), Introduction to Quality Control (1 ed.), Tokyo: 3A Corp, p. 98, ISBN 9784906224616, OCLC 23372992
