Quality Tools and Examples of using them in Improvement Projects

Improvement Insights Blog

Posts tagged "Quality Tools"

Quality Tools – Skill Shortage

Based on certification exams, some ASQ Division members lack skills in Quality Tools. If ASQ members are lacking skills with quality tools, how much can we expect of everyone else?

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

ASQ 2016 Quality Tool Usage in Poster Presentations

At this years American Society for Quality World Conference in Milwaukee, winning teams improvement projects were displayed in posters in the exhibit hall. As I did at IHI in December, I took a stroke tally of the types of tools used. Like IHI, the vast majority of tools were line and bar charts, which are the dumbest charts on the planet. Only a few teams out of 36 used control charts, Pareto charts, histograms or fishbones.
asq 2016 quality tool usage

Shouldn’t quality improvement stories should be told with tools of quality, not simple line and bar charts? Shouldn’t we be using charts that went to college and took statistics?

Posted by Jay Arthur in Healthcare, Manufacturing, QI Macros, Service, Six Sigma.

IHI 2015 Poster Use of Quality Tools

In his speech Sunday at IHI, Don Berwick called for everyone to “recommit to improvement science” (step 5 in ERA 3 of healthcare transformation).

He sounded annoyed with the lack of use of Lean Six Sigma tools and methodologies.

I understand his frustration. I was there in 2006 when he asked everyone to “pledge allegiance to science and evidence.”

Over the years, I’ve done a stroke tally of the quality tools used in IHI poster presentations.

I gave each poster one checkmark for each type of tool used.

IHI-2015-poster-use-of-tools

Sadly, even with all of the emphasis on control charts, Pareto charts and other tools of quality, they are used rarely in poster presentations.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Healthcare, QI Macros, Six Sigma.