If you have heard of quality management, it is very likely that you have also heard about the main quality tools. These, roughly speaking, constitute a specific group of analysis and visualization instruments whose purpose is to show areas of conflict and, of course, areas of improvement with regard to quality.
In this post, addressing the concept of quality management, we discuss the importance of quality tools and, finally, we detail each of them. There are a total of 7, the most common in the organizational field, industry and the service sector.
Quality management aims to ensure compliance with minimum standards and requirements regarding the manufacturing of products, offering services and efficient execution of processes within an organization. It is a concept that refers to a set of methodologies whose techniques, when implemented, contribute to satisfying the needs and expectations of the client. In this sense, quality management is synonymous with constant supervision, where it seeks, proactively, to improve operational aspects at all times of the supply chain.
Then, quality management is applied with the objective of achieving not only greater efficiency through process optimization, but also complying with regulations and protocols that govern its activities (eg ISO standards). During the application of evaluation methodologies and techniques, errors are identified, errors are corrected and potential problems are contemplated. This guarantees efficient management of production objectives, which results in greater competitiveness in the market. Audits, internal or external, are commonly applied as part of quality management.
Given the concept of quality management, it is important to address the nature and importance of the tools used for this purpose. These are essential instruments to implement an effective methodology that guarantees the control and improvement of processes. When applied correctly, these tools allow you to verify compliance with quality standards, anticipate risks and, of course, establish corrective action plans. Thus, they facilitate the timely identification of problems, the collection and analysis of data, and the implementation of optimal solutions.
Now, the quality management methodology begins with the planning and design of control measures until the execution and rigorous monitoring of processes. That said, the use of specific tools allows for timely responses to any deviation or non-compliance with established standards. Thus, not only is the quality of the final product or service ensured, but a culture of continuous improvement is also promoted within the organization.
But what are these quality tools? As we will see in the next section, there are at least 7 whose use is quite widespread when it comes to monitoring production processes.
As seen, quality management tools are necessary instruments to know both the strengths and areas for improvement in production processes and the preparation of services. Indeed, these tools help to identify, analyze and resolve quality problems systematically and effectively. Each tool is detailed below.
As its name indicates, this technique is applied to establish categories; That is, it allows you to identify groups, ideas, factors, locations, products, among others. What does this procedure provide? Facilitates the analysis of each categorization; In this way, certain trends or patterns can be known within these groups and, at the same time, in the subgroups that compose them. What’s the score? Factors, aspects, situations and other conditions that may be affecting the quality of the product or service are recognized. To better understand this, stratification can focus on machinery, work groups, or even batches of materials.
This tool is characterized by its simplicity, but also by its scope regarding quality management. It is a structured and organized record in which data is collected through the control, observation or inspection of processes or other activities, such as the control of certain tools used in production. By having a certain number of records, this sheet allows you to recognize value repetitions or even deviations from them. Deviations are an indication of problems. Once this is analyzed, informed decisions are made that contribute to quality improvement.
The histogram is another tool widely used in quality management. It is a graphic representation that accounts for the distribution of frequencies through bars, which are placed in such a way that some are higher than others, which accounts for such frequencies. So what is its use? It allows you to see the variations in a process thanks to the data collected. That is, it is a clear and structured visual representation of a range of values. Now, the histogram offers information about normal distributions, skewed distributions, comb distributions, among others.
As has been seen, graphs are very important to interpret how all the processes involved in the preparation of products and services are developed. Although the histogram is a highly valued option, so is the scatter diagram, whose graph allows us to observe cause-effect relationships thanks to the distribution of data on the X and Y axes. In this sense, the interpretation of the graph allows us to know not only causes, but also the main consequences regarding certain elements, whether materials, service instruments, among others.
This quality tool has similarities with the control sheet, but is oriented even more towards the statistical analysis of the process. What is observed in this graph? In simple terms, it addresses common variations and special variations, related to process activities and external events, respectively. An advantage of this tool is that it makes it easy to consult time periods within certain limits. In this sense, it helps to make decisions before there are significant deviations.
The Ishikawa diagram, fishbone diagram or cause-effect diagram is a very powerful tool to identify, organize and present possible causes of a problem that affects quality. What does this graph look like? The visualization is simple: a branching structure is established as if they were the spines of a fish, where the primary and secondary causes of a problem are categorized. Once created, the diagram offers a complete view of those factors that could affect, to a greater or lesser extent, quality. Comprehensive analysis is necessary to apply timely corrective measures.
Another tool that cannot go unnoticed in quality management is the Pareto diagram. Also known as the 80/20 rule, it is a bar graph in which the causes are presented in descending order according to their frequency. It then allows the most important causes to be identified, so that decisions can be made and measures deployed to improve the affected areas. Product or service optimization measures are implemented.