COURSE: TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (PARETO CHARTS AND QUALITY CIRCLES)

PARETO CHARTS
A Pareto chart is a bar graph. The lengths of the bars represent frequency or cost (time or
money) and are arranged with longest bars on the left and the shortest to the right. In this way
the chart visually depicts which situations are more significant. Pareto Charts indicates the
frequency of defects, as well as their cumulative impact. Pareto Charts are useful to find the
defects to prioritize in order to observe the greatest overall improvement.
WHEN TO USE A PARETO CHART
 When analyzing data about the frequency of problems or causes in a process
 When there are many problems or causes and you want to focus on the most significant
 When analyzing broad causes by looking at their specific components

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 When communicating with others about your data

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A Pareto Chart is a combination of a bar graph and a line graph. Example is shown below to

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indicate defects in shirts
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Each bar usually represents a type of
defect or problem. The height of the bar
represents any important unit of measure
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— often the frequency of occurrence or

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cost.
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The bars are presented in descending order

(from tallest to shortest). Therefore, you
can see which defects are more frequent at
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a glance.
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The line represents the cumulative

percentage of defects.
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A Pareto Chart is a quality tool: it helps analyze and prioritize issue resolution.
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Pareto Charts can be analyzed with the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. The
Pareto Principle states that 80% of the results are determined by 20% of the causes. Therefore,
you should try to find the 20% of defect types that are causing 80% of all defects.
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QUALITY CIRCLES
A Quality Circle is a participation management technique to manage and improve the quality of
the entire organization. The purpose of a Quality Circle is to build a good relationship with
employees, so they will show more interest and devotion in the work they do.

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 Composition: Employees show more loyalty and devotion to their organization when they are
open to collaboratively define and solve problems concerning quality or performance. This is
easiest when it concerns smaller teams of approximately 3 to 12 people. In this, it is a
requirement that they voluntarily participate in the quality circle and meet regularly. The
concept of the quality circle is based on mutual respect, in which there is no place for
assumptions and suspicion.
Subjects: Quality circles offer employees the opportunity to use all their experience, knowledge
and creativity to bring improvement into their activities. They can convert challenging problems
into opportunities with the solution they offer themselves. Employees are generally free to
select subjects in the quality circles. Some typical subjects that are extremely suitable for
discussion in circles are improvements concerning health and safety at work, improvement
concerning the workplace and concerning production processes and the product design.
Conditions: To do quality circles justice, it is important to meet several conditions. In the first

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place, the mood needs to be relaxed. People need to feel comfortable and be free to share their

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own opinion. Every member of the quality circle also needs to get their turn. This is the only

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way for employees to feel involved and be interested, which will motivate them to contribute.

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There is also a need to determine a clear goal, so everyone knows what is expected of them.
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People need to be open to each other’s point of view and listen to all opinions. If an action
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emerges, clear agreements must be made that are accepted by all employees.
Implementation: To contribute to a quality circle, it is recommended to first create a quality
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control group within the organization, which is represented by managers that know production,
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quality control and process planning. This control group’s task is to follow the quality circle.
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A facilitator will also need to be appointed, as well as a chair who can get all conversations in
the circle to run smoothly. Apart from the responsibility to lead a quality circle, they need to
give each employee the opportunity to participate in the discussion and motivate them to come
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up with creative ideas. The chair is in close contact with the facilitator.
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