The Seven Quality Tools

Problem solving tools developed in Japan and North America over the past century. They include the run chart, Pareto chart, histogram, control chart, check sheet, and scatter diagram.

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:

Ishikawa diagram
Pareto chart
Check sheet
Control chart
Flowchart
Histogram
Scatter diagram

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.