The Basic Seven (B7)

Tools of Quality

A PowerPoint Training
Presentation

By Keith H. Cooper
"As much as 95% of quality related problems in the factory can be solved
with seven fundamental quantitative tools." - Kaoru Ishikawa
 What are the Basic
Seven Tools of Quality?
• Fishbone Diagrams
• Histograms
• Pareto Analysis
• Flowcharts
• Scatter Plots
• Run Charts
• Control Charts
 Where did the Basic
Seven come from?
Kaoru Ishikawa
• Known for “Democratizing Statistics”

• The Basic Seven Tools made statistical

analysis less complicated for the average
person

• Good Visual Aids make statistical and

quality control more comprehendible.
 The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
Fishbone Diagrams

• No statistics involved

• Maps out a process/problem

• Makes improvement easier

• Looks like a “Fish Skeleton”

 Constructing a Fishbone
Diagram
• Step 1 - Identify the Problem
• Step 2 - Draw “spine” and “bones”

Example: High Inventory Shrinkage at local Drug

Store

Shrinkage
Constructing a Fishbone
Diagram
• Step 3 - Identify different areas where
problems may arise from
Ex. : High Inventory Shrinkage at local Drug Store

employees

Shrinkage

shoplifters
 Constructing a Fishbone
Diagram
• Step 4 - Identify what these specific
causes could be

Ex. : High Inventory Shrinkage at local Drug Store

Shrinkage
Anti-theft tags poorly designed
Expensive merchandise out
in the open

No security/ surveillance
shoplifters
 Constructing a Fishbone
Diagram
• Ex. : High Inventory Shrinkage at local Drug Store
employees
attitude
training
new trainee
benefits practices

Shrinkage
Anti-theft tags poorly designed
Expensive merchandise out in the open

No security/ surveillance

shoplifters
Constructing a Fishbone
Diagram
• Step 5 – Use the finished diagram to
brainstorm solutions to the main problems.
 The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
Histograms

• Bar chart

• Used to graphically represent groups

of data
Constructing a Histogram
From a set of data compute
• sum
• mean (x)
• Max
• Min
• Range (max-min)
Constructing a Histogram
• Use range to estimate beginning
and end
• Calculate the width of each
column by dividing the range by
the number of columns

Range = Width
# of Columns
 Acme Pizza Example
• Let’s say the owner wants a
distribution of Acme’s Thursday
Night Sales
Data Set from last Thursday(slices)
02122413121224341432232122122142
21212212121212121222121211222314
22322212322422441222322122421242
1721223121121222122121222424
Acme Pizza Example
Mean = 2.032258
Max = 7
Min = 0
Range = 7

Question
For 7 columns what would the width
be?
Range/Columns=7/7=1 slice
Acme Pizza Example
Histogram
70 65

60
# times ordered

50
40 33
30
20
12
8
10
0 0 1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Slices of Pizza
Constructing a Histogram
How is this helpful to Acme?
• 2 slices of pizza most common order
placed
• Distribution of sales useful for
forecasting next Thursday’s late
night demand

If you were an Acme manager how

could you apply this information?
 The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
Pareto Analysis

• Very similar to Histograms

• Use of the 80/20 rule

• Use of percentages to show

importance
 Acme Pizza (part 2)
Slices Frequency %
0 1 .3
1 33 13.09
2 65 25.79
3 8 3.17
4 12 4.76
5 0 0
6 0 0
7 1 .3
 Acme Pizza (part 2)
• The completed Pareto Analysis results in the
following graph:

70
# times ordered

60
50
40
30
20
10

0
21 1
2 43 34 75 56 67

Slices of Pizza
 Acme Pizza (part 2)
Critical Thinking
• How does the Pareto Analysis
differ from the Histogram?

• How can this be a useful tool to

the Acme boss?
 The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
Flowcharts

• A graphical picture of a PROCESS

Process Decision

The process flow

 Flowcharts
Don’t Forget to:

• Define symbols before beginning

• Stay consistent

• Check that process is accurate

 Acme Pizza Example
(Flowchart)
Window Take Customer Money?
(start) Order
yes
Get Pizza no
Lockup
Put More in
Oven 2 Pies
Available? no
yes
Time
to close? no
Take to Customer yes
How can we use the flowchart to
analyze improvement ideas from
the Histogram?

Window Take Customer Money?

(start) Order

yes
Get Pizza no
Lockup
Put More in
Oven 2 Pies
Available? no
yes
Time
to close? no
Take to Customer yes
 Want some practice?
Make a flowchart for:

• Taking a shower
• Cooking dinner
• Driving a car
• Having a party
• Creating a Flowchart

Any other processes you can think of?

The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality
Scatter Plots
• 2 Dimensional X/Y plots
• Used to show relationship
between independent(x) and
dependent(y) variables
 Acme Pizza
(Scatter Diagram)
Minutes Cooking Defective Pies
10 1
45 8
30 5
75 20
60 14
20 4
25 6

In this simple example, you can find the existing

relationship without much difficulty but…
 Scatter Diagrams
25
•Easier to see direct
relationship 20

Defective Pizzas
15

10

0
0 20 40 60 80

Time Cooking (minutes)

 Scatter Diagrams
As a quality tool
• What does this tell Acme
management about their
processes?
• Improvements?
25

20

Defective Pizzas 15

10

0
0 20 40 60 80

Time Cooking (minutes)

The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality

Run charts
• Time-based (x-axis)

• Cyclical

• Look for patterns

 Run Charts
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Slices/hour

8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 Time
PM- AM PM- AM PM- AM
Thursday Thursday Thursday
The Basic Seven (B7)
Tools of Quality

Control Charts
• Deviation from Mean

• Upper and Lower Spec’s

• Range
 Control Charts
Upper Limit

Lower Limit
Unacceptable
deviation
 Control Charts
Acme Pizza Management wants to get
in on the control chart action
•Average Diameter = 16 inches
•Upper Limit = 17 inches
•Lower Limit = 15 inches
 Acme example
Control Charts
Upper Limit
17 inches

16 inches= X

Lower Limit
15 Inches

Small Pie
 Acme example #50
Control Charts
•Pies within specifications were
acceptable
•One abnormally small pie is
“uncommon”
•Should be examined for quality control
 Summary
• Basic Seven Tools of Quality

• Measuring data

• Quality Analysis

• “Democratized statistics”
 Bibliography

• Foster, Thomas. Managing Quality. An Integrative

Approach. Upper Saddle River : Prentice Hall, 2001.

• Stevenson, William. “Supercharging Your Pareto

Analysis.” Quality Progress October 2000: 51-
55.

• “Dr Kaoru Ishikawa.” Internet

“[Link]
[Link].” 16 February 2001.

• “Chemical and Process Engineering.” Internet.

“[Link] 17 February
2001.