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What Are the 7 Basic Quality Tools?
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https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/what-are-the-7-basic-quality-tools
What Are the 7 Basic Quality Tools, and How Can

They Change Your Business for the Better?
Reading time: about 7 min
Posted by: Lucid Content Team
The ability to identify and resolve quality-related issues quickly and

efficiently is essential to anyone working in quality assurance or concerned
with process improvement. With the seven basic tools of quality in your
arsenal, you can easily manage the quality of your product or process, no
matter what industry you serve.
Learn about these quality management tools and find templates to start
using them quickly.
Where did the quality tools originate?

The seven quality tools were originally developed by Japanese professor of
engineering Kaoru Ishikawa. They were implemented by Japan’s industrial
training program during the country’s postwar period as it turned to
statistical quality control as a means of quality assurance. Their goal was to
implement basic, user-friendly tools that workers from various
backgrounds with varied skill sets could implement without extensive
training.
Today, these quality management tools are still considered the gold
standard for troubleshooting a variety of quality issues. They’re frequently
implemented in conjunction with today’s most widely used process
improvement methodologies, including various phases of Six Sigma, TQM,
continuous improvement processes, and Lean management.
7 quality tools
1. Stratification
Stratification analysis is a quality assurance tool used to sort data, objects,

and people into separate and distinct groups. Separating your data using
stratification can help you determine its meaning, revealing patterns that
might not otherwise be visible when it’s been lumped together.
Whether you’re looking at equipment, products, shifts, materials, or even

days of the week, stratification analysis lets you make sense of your data
before, during, and after its collection.
To get the most out of the stratification process, consider which information
about your data’s sources may affect the end results of your data analysis.
Make sure to set up your data collection so that that information is
included.

2. Histogram
Quality professionals are often tasked with analyzing and interpreting the
behavior of different groups of data in an effort to manage quality. This is
where quality control tools like the histogram come into play.
The histogram can help you represent frequency distribution of data

clearly and concisely amongst different groups of a sample, allowing you to
quickly and easily identify areas of improvement within your processes.
With a structure similar to a bar graph, each bar within a histogram
represents a group, while the height of the bar represents the frequency of
data within that group.
Histograms are particularly helpful when breaking down the frequency of
your data into categories such as age, days of the week, physical
measurements, or any other category that can be listed in chronological or
numerical order.
3. Check sheet (or tally sheet)
Check sheets can be used to collect quantitative or qualitative data. When

used to collect quantitative data, they can be called a tally sheet. A check
sheet collects data in the form of check or tally marks that indicate how
many times a particular value has occurred, allowing you to quickly zero in
on defects or errors within your process or product, defect patterns, and
even causes of specific defects.
With its simple setup and easy-to-read graphics, check sheets make it easy
to record preliminary frequency distribution data when measuring out
processes. This particular graphic can be used as a preliminary data
collection tool when creating histograms, bar graphs, and other quality
tools.
Click on template to edit in Lucidchart
4. Cause-and-effect diagram (also known as a fishbone or

Ishikawa diagram)
Introduced by Kaoru Ishikawa, the fishbone diagram helps users identify

the various factors (or causes) leading to an effect, usually depicted as a
problem to be solved. Named for its resemblance to a fishbone, this quality
management tool works by defining a quality-related problem on the right-
hand side of the diagram, with individual root causes and sub causes
branching off to its left.
A fishbone diagram’s causes and subcauses are usually grouped into six
main groups, including measurements, materials, personnel, environment,
methods, and machines. These categories can help you identify the
probable source of your problem while keeping your diagram structured
and orderly.
5. Pareto chart (80-20 rule)
As a quality control tool, the Pareto chart operates according to the 80-20
rule. This rule assumes that in any process, 80% of a process’s or system’s
problems are caused by 20% of major factors, often referred to as the “vital
few.” The remaining 20% of problems are caused by 80% of minor factors.
A combination of a bar and line graph, the Pareto chart depicts individual
values in descending order using bars, while the cumulative total is
represented by the line.
The goal of the Pareto chart is to highlight the relative importance of a

variety of parameters, allowing you to identify and focus your efforts on
the factors with the biggest impact on a specific part of a process or system.
6. Scatter diagram
Out of the seven quality tools, the scatter diagram is most useful in
depicting the relationship between two variables, which is ideal for quality
assurance professionals trying to identify cause and effect relationships.
With dependent values on the diagram’s Y-axis and independent values on
the X-axis, each dot represents a common intersection point. When joined,
these dots can highlight the relationship between the two variables. The
stronger the correlation in your diagram, the stronger the relationship
between variables.
Scatter diagrams can prove useful as a quality control tool when used to
define relationships between quality defects and possible causes such as
environment, activity, personnel, and other variables. Once the relationship
between a particular defect and its cause has been established, you can
implement focused solutions with (hopefully) better outcomes.

7. Control chart (also called a Shewhart chart)
Named after Walter A. Shewhart, this quality improvement tool can help
quality assurance professionals determine whether or not a process is
stable and predictable, making it easy for you to identify factors that might
lead to variations or defects.
Control charts use a central line to depict an average or mean, as well as an

upper and lower line to depict upper and lower control limits based on
historical data. By comparing historical data to data collected from your
current process, you can determine whether your current process is
controlled or affected by specific variations.
Using a control chart can save your organization time and money by
predicting process performance, particularly in terms of what your
customer or organization expects in your final product.
Bonus: Flowcharts
Some sources will swap out stratification to instead include flowcharts as

one of the seven basic QC tools. Flowcharts are most commonly used to
document organizational structures and process flows, making them ideal
for identifying bottlenecks and unnecessary steps within your process or
system.
Mapping out your current process can help you to more effectively pinpoint
which activities are completed when and by whom, how processes flow
from one department or task to another, and which steps can be eliminated
to streamline your process.
Let Lucidchart help

Lucidchart’s intuitive diagramming software provides all the tools you need
to complete each step of process improvement and quality assurance, from
identifying the possible causes of various defects to implementing time- and
money-saving solutions. We’ll help you create effective, shareable quality
tools in minutes, then turn your results into actionable goals for you and
your team moving forward.
See other ways that you can use

processes.
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What Are the 7 Basic Quality Tools?

What Are the 7 Basic Quality Tools, and How Can

Posted by: Lucid Content Team

The ability to identify and resolve quality-related issues quickly and

Where did the quality tools originate?

Stratification analysis is a quality assurance tool used to sort data, objects,

Whether you’re looking at equipment, products, shifts, materials, or even

The histogram can help you represent frequency distribution of data

3. Check sheet (or tally sheet)

Check sheets can be used to collect quantitative or qualitative data. When

Click on template to edit in Lucidchart

4. Cause-and-effect diagram (also known as a fishbone or

Introduced by Kaoru Ishikawa, the fishbone diagram helps users identify

Click on template to edit in Lucidchart

5. Pareto chart (80-20 rule)

The goal of the Pareto chart is to highlight the relative importance of a

Control charts use a central line to depict an average or mean, as well as an

Click on template to edit in Lucidchart

Some sources will swap out stratification to instead include flowcharts as

Click on template to edit in Lucidchart

Let Lucidchart help

See other ways that you can use

Why you should do an end-of-year process audit

Communicating technical information to non-technical personnel

Sign up to get the latest Lucidchart updates and tips

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