Common Quality Tools for Operations

Management
By Mary Ann Anderson, MSE, Edward J. Anderson, and Geoffrey
Parkerfrom Operations Management For Dummies
All quality management and improvement movements share the same basic foundation,
regardless of what your company calls its quality program (some companies spend
more time coming up with clever names for the program than actually implementing it).
This foundation is built on continuous improvement and statistical analysis.
Several tools are commonly used to support this foundation. (Do be aware that they
may be called by different names.)

Process flow diagram: This diagram is at the heart of continuous improvement.

It represents everything that happens in a process, and you must complete it before
embarking on process improvement. The initial process flow diagram is necessary
to understand whats actually being done and provides a document that you can use
to communicate process changes.

Histogram: You may remember the histogram from school because its a basic
method to display data. The histogram simply displays the frequency of different
measurements and shows their distribution.
For example, you can use a histogram to show the distribution of test grades to
students. A range of the students scores is plotted on the x-axis, and the frequency
of those grades is usually represented by a bar chart on the y-axis. The histogram is
very useful to identify any outliers from the rest of the data.

Pareto chart: Another common bar chart is the Pareto chart. In this chart, the
events are displayed on the x-axis, and the number of occurrences is displayed on
the y-axis. The Pareto chart allows you to instantly identify the vital few events that
are causing most of your problems.
You want to allocate your limited resources to these high-frequency events because
youll get a bigger bang for your buck if you can solve the higher-frequency issues.

Ishikawa diagram: The Ishikawa diagram (often called a fishbone

diagram because of its resemblance to a fish skeleton) is one of many cause-andeffect tools. The diagram starts at the head with a problem statement. Running
along the spine are possible causes for the problem.

These causes are usually grouped in categories such as management, manpower,

materials, methods, or machines. The fishbone diagram provides a useful visual tool
to identify the root cause of a problem.

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA): You can use this tool to identify the
root cause of a problem. Its a very structured approach that begins by identifying all
possible things that can go wrong, or the failure modes of your process or product.
After you identify the failure modes, you rank each one according to the likeliness of
it occurring, its impact if it did occur, and the likelihood of it being discovered before
reaching the customer. You calculate a risk priority number (RPN) from these
rankings, which can help prioritize the critical failure modes.

Run chart: This chart is a simple but powerful tool used to monitor a process
over time. You can use it to identify changes in mean measurement and trends that
may occur. Unlike the control chart discussed next, the run chart doesnt require any
statistical analysis.

Control chart: Statistical process control (SPC) is a statistical technique used to

monitor and control processes. The most common SPC tool is the control chart,
which is usually a line graph showing a particular measurement taken over time.
The control chart is a simple visual tool you can use to monitor a process to see
whether its performing as expected. Using the recorded data from a run chart, you
can calculate upper and lower control limits. You plot these limits on the control
chart and compare them to additional measurements. A measurement that falls
outside the limit indicates that something has happened to the process, and you
may need to take action.