Introduction & Why use the 7 QC Tools?
The 7 QC tools help to analyze the data and are most helpful in problem-solving methods. It is the fundamental tool to improve our product and process quality by identifying and analyzing the problems.
![](https://qualityengineerstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-245.png)
As per the Deming chain to achieve the organizational goal, we must tackle the product & process-related problems, and analyze these problems we get help from 7 QC tools. These 7 QC tools give us the analytical and statistical competence to solve the problems.
What are 7 QC tools?
7 Basic Quality techniques
- Pareto Charts
- Cause and Effect Diagrams
- Histograms
- Check sheet
- Scatter Diagrams
- Control Charts
- Flow Charts
Pareto Chart
Purpose:
- Prioritize problems.
- Pareto Charts are used to apply the 80/20 rule of Joseph Juran which states that 80% of the problems are the result of 20% of the problems. A Pareto Chart can be used to identify 20% of route causes of problems.
How is it done?
- Create a preliminary list of problem classifications.
- Tally the occurrences in each problem classification.
- Arrange each classification in order from highest to lowest
- Construct the bar chart
![](https://qualityengineerstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-246.png)
Benefits:
- Pareto analysis helps graphically display results so the significant few problems emerge from the general background
- It tells you what to work on first
To know the detail of What Pareto Principle is?, How to Make Pareto in Excel?
Cause & Effect Analysis
Purpose:
- Graphical representation of the trial leading to the root cause of a problem
- It’s a diagram that demonstrates the relationship between Effects and the categories of their causes
- The Arrangement of the Diagram lets it look like a fishbone it is therefore also called a fish-bone diagram
How is it done?
- Decide which quality characteristic, outcome, or effect you want to examine (may use a Pareto chart)
- Backbone –draw a straight line
- Ribs – categories
- Medium-size bones –secondary causes
- Small bones – root causes
![](https://qualityengineerstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-247.png)
Benefits:
- Breaks problems down into bite-size pieces to find the root cause
- Fosters teamwork
- A common understanding of the factors causing the problem
- Road map to verify picture of the process
- Follows brainstorming relationship
To learn in detail How to create a cause and effect diagram (Fishbone diagram)?
Histogram
Purpose:
- A Histogram is a bar graph
- To determine the spread or variation of a set of data points in a graphical form
- usually used to present frequency
How is it done?
![](https://qualityengineerstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-248.png)
- Collect data, 50-100 data point
- Determine the range of the data
- Calculate the size of the class interval
- Divide data points into classes Determine the class boundary
- Count # of data points in each class
- Draw the histogram
Benefits:
- Allows you to understand at a glance the variation that exists in a process
- The shape of the histogram will show process behavior
- Often, it will tell you to dig deeper for otherwise unseen causes of variation.
- The shape and size of the dispersion will help identify otherwise hidden sources of variation
- Used to determine the capability of a process
- The starting point for the improvement process
Check Sheet
Purpose:
![](https://qualityengineerstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-249.png)
- Tool for collecting and organizing measured or counted data
- Data collected can be used as input data for other quality tools
Benefits:
- Collect data in a systematic and organized manner
- To determine the source of the problem
- To facilitate the classification of data (stratification).
Scatter Diagram
Purpose:
- To identify the correlations that might exist between a quality characteristic and a factor that might be driving it
- A scatter diagram shows the correlation between two variables in a process.
- These variables could be Critical to Quality (CTQ) characteristics and a factor affecting it two factors affecting a CTQ or two related quality characteristics.
- Dots representing data points are scattered on the diagram.
- The extent to which the dots cluster together in a line across the diagram shows the strength.
Benefits:
- Decide which paired factors you want to examine. Both factors must be measurable on some incremental linear scale.
- Collect 30 to 100 paired data points.
- Find the highest and lowest value for both variables.
- Draw the vertical (y) and horizontal (x) axes of a graph.
- Plot the data
- Title the diagram
The shape that the cluster of dots takes will tell you something about the relationship between the two variables that you tested.
![](https://qualityengineerstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-250.png)
You may occasionally get scatter diagrams that look boomerang- or banana-shaped.
![](https://qualityengineerstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-251.png)
- To analyze the strength of the correlation, divide the scatter plot into two sections.
- Treat each half separately in your analysis
Benefits:
- Helps identify and test probable causes.
- By knowing which elements of your process are related and how they are related, you will know what to control or what to vary to affect a quality characteristic.
Control Chart
Purpose:
- The primary purpose of a control chart is to predict expected product outcomes.
- Statistical tool, showing whether a process is in control or not.
- Taking samples of a process and detecting the possibility of the process being out of control
![](https://qualityengineerstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-252.png)
How does it Work?
- Define Upper limit, lower limit, and medium value
- Draw Chart.
- Gather values and draw them into the chart
Benefits:
- Predict process out of control and out of specification limits
- Distinguish between specific, identifiable causes of variation
- Can be used for statistical process control
Strategy for eliminating assignable-cause variation:
- Get timely data so that you see the effect of the assignable cause soon after it occurs.
- As soon as you see something that indicates that an assignable cause of variation has happened, search for the cause.
- Change tools to compensate for the assignable cause.
Strategy for reducing common-cause variation:
- Do not attempt to explain the difference between any of the values or data points produced by a stable system in control.
- Reducing common-cause variation usually requires making fundamental changes in your process
Flow Chart
Purpose:
- Visual illustration of the sequence of operations required to complete a task.
- Schematic drawing of the process to measure or improve.
- The starting point for process improvement
- A potential weakness in the process is made visual.
- Picture the process as it should be.
- Way of representing a Procedure using simple symbols and arrows
How is it done?
- List major steps
- Write the process step inside each symbol
- Connect the Symbols with arrows showing the direction of the flow
- List sub-steps under each in the order they occur
![](https://qualityengineerstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-253.png)
Benefits:
- Identify process improvements
- Understand the process
- Shows duplicated effort and other non-value-added steps
- Clarify working relationships between people and organizations
- Target specific steps in the process for improvement.
- Simplest of all flowcharts
- Used for planning new processes or examining an existing one
- Keep people focused on the whole process
- Show what happens at each step in the process
- Show what happens when non-standard events occur
- Graphically display processes to identify redundancies and other wasted efforts