“The seven basic tools of quality are a fixed set of visual exercises identified as being most helpful in troubleshooting issues related to quality. They are called basic because they are suitable for people with little formal training in statistics and because they can be used to solve the vast majority of quality-related issues.
The seven tools are:
- Cause-and-effect diagram (also known as the “fishbone diagram” or Ishikawa diagram)
- Check sheet
- Control chart
- Histogram
- Pareto chart
- Scatter diagram
- Stratification (alternatively, flow chart or run chart)
The designation arose in postwar Japan, inspired by the seven famous weapons of Benkei. It was possibly introduced by Kaoru Ishikawa who in turn was influenced by a series of lectures W. Edwards Deming had given to Japanese engineers and scientists in 1950.”