Seven basic tools of quality

The discipline of Total Quality Control uses a number of quantitative methods and tools to identify problems and suggest avenues for continuous improvement in fields such as manufacturing. Over many years, total quality practitioners gradually realized that a large number of quality related problems can be solved with seven basic quantitative tools, which then became known as the “Traditional Seven Tools of Quality”. These are:

. Cause-effect diagram (fishbone diagrams) . Pareto charts . Check sheets . Control charts . Flowcharts . Histograms . Scatter diagrams

These tools have been widely used in most quality management organizations, and a number of extensions and improvements to them have been proposed and adopted.