If you have heard about quality management, it is very likely that you have also heard about the main quality tools. These, roughly speaking, make up a specific group of analysis and visualization instruments whose purpose is to highlight conflict areas and, of course, areas for improvement in terms of quality.
In this post, we will address the concept of quality management, discuss the importance of quality tools, and finally 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 standards and minimum requirements regarding the manufacturing of products, service delivery, and efficient execution of processes within an organization. It refers to a set of methodologies whose techniques, when implemented, help satisfy the needs and expectations of the customer. In this sense, quality management is synonymous with constant supervision, proactively seeking to improve operational aspects at all stages of the supply chain.
Therefore, quality management is applied with the goal of achieving not only greater efficiency through process optimization, but also compliance with standards and protocols that govern its activities (e.g., ISO standards). During the application of evaluation methodologies and techniques, errors are identified, failures corrected, and potential issues considered. This ensures efficient management of production objectives, resulting in greater competitiveness in the market. Audits, internal or external, are commonly applied as part of quality management.
Having seen 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 for implementing an effective methodology that guarantees process control and improvement. When applied correctly, these tools allow verifying compliance with quality standards, anticipating risks, and, of course, establishing corrective action plans. Thus, they facilitate timely problem identification, data collection and analysis, and the implementation of optimal solutions.
Now, the quality management methodology begins with the planning and design of control measures up to the execution and rigorous process monitoring. That said, the use of specific tools enables timely responses to any deviation or non-compliance with established standards. In this way, 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 seven whose use is widespread in monitoring production processes.
As mentioned, quality management tools are necessary instruments to identify both strengths and areas for improvement in production processes and service delivery. Indeed, these tools help identify, analyze, and solve quality issues systematically and effectively. Below is a description of each tool.
As the name implies, this technique is applied to establish categories; that is, it allows identifying groups, ideas, factors, locations, products, among others. What does this process provide? It facilitates the analysis of each category, thus allowing detection of certain trends or patterns within these groups and their subgroups. What is the result? It identifies factors, aspects, situations, and other conditions that may be affecting product or service quality. To better understand this, stratification can focus on machinery, work teams, or even material batches.
This tool is characterized by its simplicity but also by its usefulness in quality management. It is a structured and organized record in which data is collected through control, observation, or inspection of processes or other activities, such as monitoring specific tools used in production. By having a certain number of records, this sheet allows identifying repeated values or even deviations from them. Deviations are signs of problems. Once analyzed, informed decisions are made that contribute to quality improvement.
The histogram is another widely used tool in quality management. It is a graphical representation showing frequency distribution using bars, which vary in height to indicate such frequencies. So, what is its utility? It helps visualize process variations based on the collected data. In other words, it offers a clear and structured visual representation over a range of values. Moreover, the histogram provides information on normal, skewed, and comb-shaped distributions, among others.
As seen, charts are crucial for interpreting how processes develop in product and service preparation. While the histogram is a valuable option, so is the scatter diagram, which allows observing cause-and-effect relationships through data distribution across X and Y axes. This enables understanding not only causes but also main consequences regarding specific elements, whether materials, service tools, or others.
This quality tool shares similarities with the check sheet but is more focused on the statistical analysis of the process. What does this chart show? Simply put, it looks at common and special variations, related to process activities and external factors, respectively. One advantage of this tool is that it allows reviewing time periods within certain limits, helping make decisions before significant deviations occur.
The Ishikawa diagram, also known as the fishbone diagram or cause-and-effect diagram, is a powerful tool for identifying, organizing, and presenting possible causes of a problem affecting quality. What does this chart look like? The visualization is simple: it features a branched structure resembling a fishbone, where primary and secondary causes of a problem are categorized. Once completed, the diagram provides a comprehensive view of factors that may influence quality to varying degrees. Thorough analysis is necessary to apply timely corrective measures.
Another tool that cannot be overlooked in quality management is the Pareto diagram. Also known as the 80/20 rule, it is a bar chart in which causes are presented in descending order according to their frequency. It helps identify the most significant causes, allowing decisions and measures to be implemented to improve affected areas. Product or service optimization measures are then applied.
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