TRAINING

ON
THE SEVEN QC
TOOLS
BY
N.K.GUPTA

THE SEVEN Q.C.

TOOLS
THE SEVEN
Q.C.
TOOLS

THE SEVEN Q.C.

TOOLS

Q.C. approach to problem solving stresses on

Collecting data that represent the true facts.

Analyzing these data in order to make

judgment

Taking counter measures.

b) Dr. kaoru Ishikawa, the leading figure in
development of Q.C. in Japan said Everybody
could solve 95% of problems around them
by using Q.C. Tools successfully.
c) QC tools are instruments for handling data and
diagnostic tools for Problem Solving
a)

Q.C. APPROACH
FACTS
Collect
Data
Process
Data
Process
Data

ACT

WHAT ARE THE QC TOOLS

QC Tools are technique used in QC
activities for

Discovering Problem

Organizing Information

Generating ideas.

Analyzing causes.

Taking actions.

Effecting Improvements

Establishing control
b) Any technique that can be used effectively
in Quality Control for dealing with data is
defined as a QC Tools
a)

SIGNIFICANCE OF QC TOOLS
You cannot build a house without hammer
and nails.
b) Base for every thing on the facts.
c) Judgment and conclusion on numerical
data.
d) Helps in finding out exactly what is going
wrong.
a)

Unearthing Problem
Analyzing Problem
Taking Counter measures
Establishing Control

e) Most important weapons in solving problem

in workplace.

THE SEVEN QC TOOLS

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Cause & effect diagram

Pareto diagram.
Graph & Charts
Check Sheet
Histogram
Scatter Diagram
Control Chart

Additional
1. Run Chart
2. Flow Chart

1: CAUSE & EFFECT DIAGRAM

A Diagram shaped like the bones of a fish for
systematically summarizing the relationship between
quality characteristics, defects etc and their causes.
Method

Manpower
Quality

Material

Machinery

FISH BONE DIAGRAM

When you need to explore and display all of the possible cause of a
specific problem or condition
Material

Method

Environment
CAUSE

Quality
Equipment

Measurement

EFFECT

USEFULNESS OF CAUSE & EFFECT

DIAGRAM (ISHIKAWA DIAGRAM)
For searching out factors that affect the

characteristics.

Sorting out the relationship between these

factors (Causes) and the characteristic (The

results).

Depicting above systematically

Gather the opinion of as many people as

possible in order flush out all the relevant

factors.

STEPS IN CONSTRUCTING
A FISH BONE DIAGRAM
1.

Placing problem statement in box on the right.

2.

Drawing the traditional major cause categories

steps in the production process or any cause that
are helpful in organizing the most important factors.

3.

Placing the brain stormed ideas in the appropriate

major categories.

4.

For each cause ask Why does it happen and list

response as branches of the major causes.

5.

Generate ideas through structured brain storming

about
possible
causes
without
previous
preparation.

2: PARETO DIAGRAM
A Diagram on which undesirable events are stratifed
according to their causes or manifestation and plotted in
vertical bar graph in order of importance.
100
92

80
70

T y p e o f d e fe

77
60

60

60
50

50

46

40

40

40

30

30

20

20

10

20
10

PARETO CHART

100
90

C
F r

e q u e

n c

10
0

When you need to display the relative importance of all the problems of conditions in order to choose the starting point for problem solving monitor success or
identify the basic cause of a problem.

3: GRAPH & CHARTS

A diagram for plotting data and showing temporal changes

and relationship between different quantities.
Line Graph
Bar Graph
Pie Chart
LINE GRAPH

25

20

15

10

0
June'04

July 's 04

A ug' 04

Sep'04

BAR GRAPH

V elocit y

D is mis

Lack of

1s t Qt r

2 nd Qt r

It help in comparing quantities

3r d Qt r

Simply graph in which the entire circle represents 100% (Not 360
degrees) of data to be displayed.
The circle (Pie) is divided into percentage slices that show the
largest shares of data.
Shows relative proportiory.
PIE CHART

SURVEY - FEELING ON WEIGHT

75% Over weight

400

People
18% just

8%

1% dont
care

too
thin

right

. This is useful in the same way as pareto chart.

4: CHECK SHEET

Check sheets are simply an easy to understand Form used to answer

the question How often are certain events happening?
It starts the process of translating Opinions into facts

Forms specially prepared to enable data to be collected simply by

Making check marks.

Problem
A
B
C
Total

II
II
IIII
9

II
III
II
7

Months
3
I
III
IIII IIII
14

Total
5
8
17
30

Check sheet are used fortifying the occurrences of the defects or

causes being adverse and graphing or charting them directly.
Check sheets have the systematic recording and compiling of data
from historical or current observations. This information can indicate
pattern and trends.

5: HISTOGRAM
It is graphical picture of a frequency table prepared by dividing the data range into sub
groups and counting the no.of points in each sub-group. The no. of points (The
frequency) is then plotted as a height on the diagram in bar graph form.
40
35
30
25

Frequency

20
15
10
5
0
3

3.1

3.2

3.3

3. 4

3. 5

3.6

3 .7

Thickness

HISTOGRAM

When you need to discover and display the distribution

of data by bar graphing the no. of units in each
A Histogram takes measurement data temprature, dimension etc. and displays its
category.
distribution.
A Histogram reveals the amount of variation that any process has with in it.
A Histogram gives a Bird Eye Viewof the variation in a data set and provides us a
quick picture of the distribution for the measured characteristics.

HISTOGRAM - VARIABLITY

SMALL VARIABILITY

LARGE VARIABILITY

POSITIVELY OF SKEWED

NEGATIVELY SKEWED

STEP IN CONSTRUCTING A HISTOGRAM

Step 1 : Count the no. of data points in the set of data.
Step 2 : Determine the range, R for the entire data set.
Step 3 : Divide the range value into a certain no. of classes.
No. of Data Points
No. of Classes (K)
Under 50
57
50-100
6 10
100-250
7 12
Over 250
10 20
Step 4 : Determine the class width, H.
R
H=
Range
K
Step 5 : Determine the class boundary, or end point.
Step 6 : Construct a frequency table based on the values (No. of
classes, width and class boundary) The frequency table is
actually a Histogram in a tabular form.
Step 7 : Construct the Histogram based on the frequency table

STEP IN CONSTRUCTING A HISTOGRAM

There will be more detailed instructions for constructing histograms
than most of the other tools. This is being stressed because of the
confusion that seems to be crated when deciding on the nmo. Of
classes (bars), in the class boundaries, etc.
9.9
9.8
9.7
10.2
9.9
9.3
9
10
9.5
9.6
10.3
9.5
9.9

9.3
9.8
9.4
10.1
10.7
10.2
9.5
9.7
9.7
9.4
9.6
9.5
10.4

10.2
10.1
9.6
9.8
9.3
9.2
9.7
9.4
10.6
10.1
9.7
9.8
9.3

9.4
9.9
10
10.1
10.3
9.9
9.7
9.8
9.5
9.5
9.7
9.9
9.6

10.1
9.7
9.8
10.3
9.9
9.7
9.8
9.4
10.1
10.1
10.1
9.2
10.2

9.6
9.8
9.9
10
9.8
9.9
9.8
9.6
10
10.2
9.8
10
9.7

9.9
9.9
10.1
10.2
10.3
9.8
9.3
10
9.8
9.9
9.7
10
9.7

10.1
10
10.4
9.8
9.5
9.5
9.6
10.3
10.1
9.5
10
9.7
9.7

9.8
9.9
9.6 10.2
10
9.8
10.7 9.3
9.9
9.6
9.4
9.5
9.7
9.6
9.8 10.3
9.6
9.3
10
9.7
10.4

These no. refer to the thickness of a certain key material in process

Step 1 : Counter the no. of data points in the set of data. For
our example above there are 125 data points (n=125)

Step 2 : Determine the range, R for the entire data set.

The range is the smallest value in the set of data subtracted
from the largest value. In our case, the range is equal to 10.7 minus
9.0. Thus, the range equals 1.7.

Step 3 : Divide the range value into a certain no. of classes,

referred to as K. the table below provides an approximate guideline
for dividing your set of data into a points would be broken down into
7-12 classes. We will use K=10 classes.
No. of Data Points
Under 50
50-100
100-250
Over 250

N. of Classes (K)
5-7
6-10
7-12
10-20

Step 4 : Determine the class width, H. A convenient formula is

as follows.
R
H=

1.7
=

= .17
10

In this case, as in most, it helps to round off H to some

convenient no. for our purposes, .20 would appear
appropriate.
Step 5 : Determine the class boundary, or end point. Take the
smallest individual measurement and look at the right most
decimal place. Subtract half the right most decimal place
from this measurement. In our example the smallest
individual measurement was 9.0. Thus, subtract 0.05 from
9.0 to obtain the lowest class boundary of 8.95. Finally,
consecutively add the class width 0.20 (i.e. 8. 95, 9.15,
9.35) to lowest class boundary unit the correct no. of
classes, 10, obtained.

Step 6 : Construct a frequency table based on the values (i.e.

no. of classes, class width. Class boundary) computed above.
The frequency table is actually a histogram in a tabular
form. A frequency table based on the thickness. Data is
shown below:
Class
Class
Mid Point
Boundaries
1
8.95-9.15
9.05
2
9.15-9.35
9.25
3
9.35-9.55
9.45
4
9.55-9.75
9.65
5
9.75-9.95
9.85
6
9.95-10.15
10.05
7
10.15-10.35
10.25
8
10.35-10.55
10.45
9
10.55-10.75
10.65
10
10.75-10.95
10.85

Frequency
1
1111 1111
1111 1111 1111 1
1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1
1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1

1111 1111 1111 111

1111 1111 11
11
1111

Total
1
9
16
27
31
23
12
2
4
0

Step 7 : Construct the histogram based on the frequency table.

A histogram is a graphical picture of a frequency table. It
provides us with a quick picture of the distribution for the
measured characteristic. A Histogram for our example is
shown below :
30
25
20

Frequency

15
10
5
0
8. 95

9. 1 5

9. 3 5

9. 55

9. 75

9. 9 5

Thickness

10. 2

10. 4

10. 6

10. 8

As point out earlier, the histogram is an important diagnostic tool

because it gives a Bird-eye-view of the variation in a data set. In
our case, the data appears to have a central tendency around 9.75
to 9.95. It also appears the data creates close to a normal curve.
The specification for the thickness characteristic is 7.5 to 10.5,
with a target of 9. Thus, we can see that our histogram indicates
the process is targeted high and that 3% may be above the upper
specification limit.

6 : SCATTER DIAGRAM

Variable 2

A Scatter diagram is a plot to access the relationship between two variables.

It is prepared by plotting paired sets of data such as hardness and tensile
strength and temperature & yield etc. against each other on X and Y axis.
A Scatter diagram is set up whereby the horizontal axis (X-axis) represent the
measurement values of one variable and the vertical axis (y-axis) represent the
measurement of second variable.
A Scatter diagram is used to study the possible relationship between one
variable and another.
The Scatter diagram is used to test for possible causes and effect relationship. It
can not prove that one variable causes the other but it does make it clear
whether a relationship exists and the and the strength of that relationship.

Variable 1

METHOD OF USE

Collect paired sets of data on causes and effects and use scatter diagram to
check for correction between the sets of data.
Use atleast 30 values, preferably around 100.

VRIATION PATTERN OF SCATTER

DIAGRAM
-Height vs wt.
y

-Trg. Vs performance
Positive Correlation
x

y
x

Possible Positive
Correlation

y
No Correlation
x
y

Possible Negative
Correlation
x

y
Negative Correlation
x

8: RUN CHART

A run chart or time series plot permits the study of observed data
for trends or patterns over time, where X-axis is time and Y-axis,
The measured variable.
Run charts are employed to visually represent data they are used
to monitor a system to see whether or not the long range average
is changing.
Run charts are simplest tool to construct and use point are plotted
on the graph in order in which they become available.
Run charts are used when you need to do the simplest possible
display of trends within observation points over a specified time
period.
Run chart is common to graph the result of a process such as
machine down time, yield, scrap, and productivity as they very
over time.
MEASUREMENT

TIME OR SEQUENCE