There are seven basic quality improvement tools that are used by Quality Circle teams, and are fundamental to the Total Quality Management, Total Quality Control, Lean, and Six Sigma initiatives.
- Cause-and-effect diagrams (sometimes called Ishikawa diagrams, or C&E diagrams, or “fishbone” diagrams)
- Pareto charts
- Process mapping and data gathering tools:
- check sheets
- Graphical tools:
- histograms
- frequency diagrams
- spot charts
- pie charts
- Run charts and control charts
- Scatter plots and correlation analysis
- Flowcharts
