Focused Improvement

(3) Histograms Although the overall distribution pattern can be deduced from the data points in a frequency distribution table, the distribution can also be represented as a column graph, known as a histogram (see Figure “A Histogram”). The histogram is employed to reveal mean values and variation patterns, the histogram…

(1) Cause-and-effect diagrams The cause-and-effect diagram (also known as the fishbone diagram or Ishikawa diagram) was developed by the Japanese quality guru Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa to express one of the basic principles of total quality management, that the desired product, target or other outcome is achieved not by directly controlling…

The QC story (or Improvement Story) is a simple, practical way of doing this and thereby solving problems efficiently.