Problem diagnosis and improvement tools
In the quality management job, a significant activity is in constantly improving the quality of the business, such that products and services get better and better whilst costs go down and people in the business are motivated, loyal and proud of their work.
There are many tools for problem diagnosis and improvement that can be used in a Problem Diagnosis and Improvement Process. The basic tools that are used for process improvement are the 'first seven tools', as follows:
- Cause-Effect Diagram, for identifying root causes of problems.
- Pareto Chart, for prioritizing actions.
- Check Sheet, for collecting data.
- Scatter Chart, for understanding correlation.
- Bar Chart and other graphs, for visualising data.
- Histogram, for understanding distribution.
- Control Chart, for identifying special causes of variation.
Other useful tools include: