Managing Quality

Chapter 15. Tools and Techniques: An Overview

B. G. Dale

Introduction

To support, develop and advance a process of continuous improvement it is necessary for an organization to use a selection of tools and techniques. Some of these tools and techniques are simple (sometimes deceptively so), while others are more complex. There are a considerable number of tools and techniques; the following are perhaps the most popular and best known:

• Checklists

• Flowcharts

• The seven quality control tools (QC7: cause-and-effect diagram, check sheet, control chart, graphs, histogram, Pareto diagram and scatter diagram)

• Quality costing

• Statistical process control

• Failure mode and effects analysis

• Fault tree analysis

• Design of experiments

• Quality function deployment

• The seven management tools (M7: affinity diagrams, relations diagrams, systematic diagrams, matrix diagrams, matrix data analysis, process decision programme chart, and arrow diagrams)

• Departmental purpose analysis

• Mistake-proofing

• Benchmarking

• Total productive maintenance

• Housekeeping

Tools and techniques have different roles to play in continuous improvement and if applied correctly give repeatable and reliable results. Their roles include:

• Summarizing data and organizing its presentation

• Data-collection and structuring ideas

• Identifying relationships

• Discovering and understanding a problem

• Implementing actions

• Finding and removing the causes of the problem

• Selecting problems for improvement and assisting with the setting of priorities

• Monitoring and maintaining ...