The 7 quality tools include:

1. Stratification (Divide & Conquer): Here data is divided into smaller subcategories. These subcategories are divided into groups based on the information that they most cover, and the specific information given in these subgroups help solve an existing issue.
2. Histogram: These contain information on the frequency of specific occurrences that have to do with the issue needed to be resolved.
3. Check Sheet: An easy way to display both qualitative and quantitative data that is gathered for analysis; also called a tally sheet. This is great in understanding where in the progress that defect patterns happen.
4. Cause & Effect Chart (Fishbone or Ishikawa Diagram): This diagram is extremely useful in problem solutions as well as identifying the root causes for an issue.
5. Pareto Chart (80-20 Principle): This chart is based on 20% of causes resulting in 80% of effects. The Pareto charts help us visualize through the chart that the majority of end results come from a minority of actions or causes for defects.
6. Scatter Diagram: This is a mathematical chart that correlates a set of two variables for specific data.
7. Control Chart (Shewhart Chart): This is a great tool for observing all pertinent processes over time. This tool makes it easy to see the variation and pinpoint its occurrence.

These quality control tools help in gathering important data that will make quality improvement based on facts and not on arbitrary guesses. Keep in mind that the Voice of Customer (VOC) is of utmost importance since fulfilling the customer’s requirements is the reason you are in business, and without your customers, you won’t have a business or company.

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Top 7 Six Sigma Quality Tools –

1.     Control Chart – One of Your Essential Control Tools

Quality improvement involves a lot of testing and documentation. As such, a control chart is a highly effective method by which to monitor and maintain statistical control. Control charts will help you remain aware of your measurements and limits, as well as pin down the causes of variation.

2.     Cause and Effect Diagram

Also known as Fishbone or Ishikawa Diagrams, CEDs give your employees the freedom to interrogate problems for their possible causes. Every fishbone branching off the spine of the diagram represents a different category, allowing you to question multiple lines of inquiry at once.

3.     Histograms – For Graphical Data Display

One of Six Sigma’s most commonly used tools, histograms display and make sense of data. You should use them to show probability distribution in graph form. Histograms are also useful for indicating the frequency with which factors affecting quality or process improvement appear. Histograms, like Pareto diagrams, represent data vertically and horizontally.

4.     Check Sheet – Asks the 5 Whys

Another frequently used quality tool, you should use check sheets for data collection. Check sheets collect and collate data in real time, when and where your data is located. You can spot problems and highlight trends with ease, as check sheets make analysis simpler. Taking the form of a physical document or as a computer program, check sheets allow you to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Check sheets become tally sheets when dealing with quantitative data. Check sheets involve collating all relevant project or process information. Questions of Who, What, When, Where, and Why are used to measure probability distribution and quantify variation.

5.     Stratification

Six Sigma practitioners use stratification to classify data systematically. Stratification arranges information according to suitable categories, which you should devise for yourself, such as process, time, place, frequency, etc. Stratification is sometimes known as a flowchart and provides a visual template for how processes work. They can also identify your process customers.

6.     Scatter Diagram – Critical Quality Tools

A critical quality tool in Six Sigma, scatter diagrams allow you to show how two factors are related. Like cause and effect diagrams, scatter diagrams can display both causation and correlation, as well as the degree to which both appear. You can also test potential cause and effect relationships between multiple variables.

7.     Pareto Chart

Known as ABC analysis, Pareto charts are a classic of quality improvement work. Pareto charts are one of Six Sigma’s most highly utilized tools and used by companies all over the world. Pareto charts enable you to prioritize your most critical problems and the factors contributing to them. If a factor affects your business in a negative way, Pareto charts can help distinguish between the vital few and your trivial many are useful for identifying the most significant issues to tackle first.

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The check sheet might look different in your doctor’s office than the one used by Kaoru Ishikawa, an organizational theorist and Professor of Engineering at the University of Tokyo. Professor Ishikawa was known for his quality management innovations.

Keeping track of defects, types of defects or symptoms is as important for your health as it is in your business. This tool is an extremely simple way to collect vital data.

Check Sheet Examples

Some different examples include:

• Classification Check Sheet
• Defect Location Check Sheet
• Frequency Check Sheet
• Measurement Scale Check Sheet

The type that can be devised will depend of the data that you need to measure. For example, if you want to measure the frequency of support calls your company gets in a week’s time, you would use the Frequency Check Sheet.

The one caveat is that you must use check marks, hence the name check sheets. This is done for a quick and easy overview.

This organizational tool is so easy and unrestrictive to use. Many businesses have been able to fix pressing issues very easily using the check sheet.

Do Not Confuse the Check Sheet with the Checklist

A check sheet, regardless of the type, is for collecting vital data, for correcting a problem, or measuring quality.

A checklist, for example, is for marking off materials that are needed for a project. Perhaps you have a checklist of the criteria for a job.

A quick mind shift can make a world of difference. Think of check sheets as exceptional organizational tools. After all, these tools have saved large and small companies millions, if not billions of dollars. Just ask GE.

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