How to Use Pareto Chart in Quality Control Processes?

Pareto Charts are incredibly important in displaying insights into quality control processes.

Why?

The visualization design plots the frequency of problems and their cumulative impacts on your business. And this makes it easier for you to prioritize the problems that need urgent attention in quality assurance.

Imagine the time and other resources you’ll save by adopting Pareto Charts as one of your go-to visualization designs. Well, Google Sheets (a popular spreadsheet app) lack this amazingly insightful and easy-to-read chart.

It turns out you don’t have to ditch your favorite spreadsheet app. You have an option of supercharging your Google Sheets with an add-on to get access to ready-made and insightful Pareto Charts.

Table of Content:

What is a Pareto Chart?

The Pareto chart was developed by Vilfredo Pareto, an 18th-century Italian economist.

According to Pareto, 80% of the overall result is driven by 20% of the variables. The aforementioned principle is also known as the Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule.

You can use a Pareto Chart, especially when you encounter multiple related problems or a common problem with numerous causes in your business.

Why?

A Pareto Chart empowers you to categorize occurrences based on their impact on a common strategic goal or objective. This visualization design aims to categorize key variables in your data based on their frequency of occurrence.

In other words, this chart provides you with in-depth and high-level insights into problems that require urgent attention and resources.

Pareto Chart is based on the classic 80/20 rule. The rule says that 20% of the causal factors result in 80% of the overall outcomes. For instance, 80% of the world’s total wealth is held by 20% of the population.

This easy-to-read chart prevents you from attacking the causes randomly by uncovering the top 20% of the problems, negatively affecting 80% of your overall performance.

Keep reading because, in the coming section, we’ll cover the following: Uses of Pareto Chart in quality control.

Uses of Pareto Chart in Quality Control

Most businesses use the Pareto Chart in Quality control to solve problems by addressing the 20% of the variables that cause 80% of the mess.

A more significant percentage of problems come from a small number of defects in terms of quality. In project management, significant effort is usually spent on a smaller number of tasks.

A greater percentage of revenue comes from a smaller percentage of customers in sales. On the other hand, a greater percentage of funding is provided by a smaller chunk of investors in finance.

Let’s take a look at more applications of the Pareto Chart in quality control.

The simplicity of the Pareto Chart makes it applicable to a wider range of situations, both within and beyond quality improvement.

• Use a Pareto Chart Early in Your Quality Improvement Process

Pareto charts can be used at the start of a new round of quality improvement at the leadership or management level.

Yes, you can use the chart to map out the business problems that are responsible for the most complaints or losses and dedicate improvement resources by visualizing your data to show profit and loss.

Collecting and examining data like the aforementioned often upends your hypothesis.

For example, leaders at one company believed that the majority of customer complaints involved product defects. But insights from a Pareto Chart showed that most people complained about shipping delays.

• Use a Pareto Chart Later in Your Quality Improvement Process

Once a project has been identified and a team assembled, use a Pareto Chart in quality control to select critical areas that need urgent help.

Most business problems are big and multifaceted.

For instance, shipping delays may occur due to various reasons, such as global pandemics. If there are multiple problematic areas, it’s time-saving to focus on significant segments first.

• Use a Pareto Chart to Build Consensus

Use Pareto Charts to solve conflicts, particularly in projects with multiple moving parts or crosses over many different units or work functions.

Team members may have sharp disagreements about proceeding either because they wish to defend their departments or know the problem.

For example, a hospital project improvement team was prevented from reducing operating room delays because the anesthesiologists blamed the surgeons and vice versa. However, insights from a Pareto Chart in quality control showed that neither of the team caused the problem.

• Use Pareto Charts Outside of Quality Improvement Projects

Pareto Charts in quality control are amazingly simple, which makes them a valuable tool for making decisions beyond the world of quality improvement.

How to Use Pareto Chart in Quality Control Processes?

We acknowledge that Google Sheets is one of professionals’ and businesses’ most-used data visualization tools worldwide. Besides, the spreadsheet app has been there for years, plus it’s familiar to many.

However, this does not mean you should settle for less. 

In other words, if your goal is to create an insightful and ready-to-go Pareto Diagram in quality control, you’ve got to think beyond Google Sheets.

To access insightful and visually appealing Pareto Charts in Google Sheets, install third-party apps (add-ons).

There are thousands of add-ons created purposely for Google Sheets. We’ve tested hundreds and narrowed them down to one to save you time.

Which one?

ChartExpo ticks all the boxes with respect to the following:

• Ease of use
• Ease of access
• Number of intuitive and advanced charts available
• Affordability

If your goal is to visualize your data with the Pareto Graph, your go-to chart maker should be ChartExpo.

In the coming section, you’ll learn how to install the ChartExpo add-in to access ready-made Pareto Charts.

How to Create Pareto Chart in Quality Control?

ChartExpo is a trusted tool that professionals worldwide use to create insightful and easy-to-understand Pareto Charts.

Besides, it comes as an add-on you can easily install in your Google Sheets to get the most from your data. With ChartExpo, you’ll never struggle to visualize your data with Pareto Chart in quality control. And this is because it has an ultra-friendly user interface (UI).

Keep reading because, in the coming section, we’ll cover the benefits of the Pareto Chart in quality control.

Example

This section will use a Pareto Chart to display insights into the table below.

Issues
Frequency

Uncut Thread
36

Broken Stitch
18

Raw Edge
14

Fabric Fault
9

Needle Mark
7

Over Stitch
4

Other
3

Once you have installed ChartExpo for Google Sheets, follow the easy steps below:

• Open your Google Sheets application.
• Open the worksheet and click the Extension menu button.
• Once the ChartExpo drop-down menu shows, click the Open button.

• Click the Add New Chart button to access all the charts in ChartExpo.

• Click the Search box and type the following “Pareto Chart”.

• Select the sheet holding your data.
• Fill in the metrics and dimensions.

In our example, the key metric to fill in is frequency. Conversely, fill in the following variable in the dimension section: issues.

• Complete the task by clicking the Create Chart button, as shown above.
• Check out the final Pareto Chart in quality control.

Insights

• Uncut thread, broken stitch, and raw edge account for 80% of problems frequently reported by the customers.
• The rest of the complaints account for only 20%.

Video Tutorial: How to Create a Pareto Analysis Chart in Google Sheets?

In this video, you’ll learn how to create a Pareto Analysis Chart in Google Sheets.



Benefits of the Pareto Chart in Quality Control

A Pareto Chart is an effective tool for communication with stakeholders visually. Besides, it enhances organizational efficiency.

Secondly, you can use the visualization design to determine the most significant causes of a problem. Also, it enhances problem-solving skills.

A Pareto Chart is remarkable if your goal is to analyze problems with regard to their frequency of occurrence, time, or cost. Use this chart to focus on the most significant issues that require urgent fix due to their effect on the strategic goals.

Picture this! How much time and other resources can you save if you focus ONLY on the significant issues that matter?

Lastly, the Pareto Diagram in quality control is amazingly easy to read and interpret, even for non-technical audiences. You can use a Pareto Chart to identify the most frequent problems and categorize them based on their significance. To leverage Pareto fully, identify and list your problems and their root causes.

Then, score each problem according to its impact. The scoring system you use depends on the nature and type of problems you’ll fix.

Limitations of the Pareto Chart in Quality Control

The chart has no scientific proof, and hence it cannot apply in all contexts.

Besides, the chart cannot help you to identify the root causes of a problem. It would help if you paired a Pareto Chart with a root cause analysis tool to discover the cause of a problem.

Secondly, the visualization design cannot show you the severity of a problem. More so, the analysis process can be cumbersome, especially if there’re multiple variables.

Pareto Chart uses past data, which might not be significant to current or future scenarios.

FAQs:

What is the Purpose of the Pareto Chart?

You can highlight critical elements of a (typically large) set of factors with the Pareto chart.

For instance, a Pareto Chart in quality control can display the source of the most defects, the most frequently occurring defect type, or the most frequent basis for customer complaints, among others.

How does the Pareto Chart help in quality improvement?

A Pareto chart can help you identify the most frequent defects, complaints, or any other factor that can be counted and categorized in the quality improvement context.

You can use the chart to map out the business problems that are responsible for the most complaints or losses and dedicate improvement resources.

How does the Pareto Chart work?

The primary objective of the Pareto Chart is to highlight the 20% variables driving 80% of the results.

In quality control, the visualization design depicts the most frequent causes of defects, the highest occurring type of defect, the most frequent reasons for customer complaints, etc.

Wrap Up

Pareto Charts are incredibly important in displaying insights into quality control processes.

The visualization design plots the frequency of defects and their cumulative impacts on your business. And this makes it easier for you to prioritize the problems that need urgent attention in quality assurance.

A Pareto Diagram empowers you to categorize occurrences based on their impact on a common strategic goal or objective. This visualization design aims to categorize key variables in your data based on their frequency of occurrence.

The chart provides you with in-depth and high-level insights into problems that require urgent attention and resources.

Pareto Chart is based on the classic 80/20 rule. The rule says that 20% of the causal factors result in 80% of the overall outcomes. For instance, 80% of the world’s total wealth is held by 20% of the population.

A significant chunk of businesses across the world use the Pareto Chart to solve problems by addressing the 20% of the variables that cause 80% of the mess.

Google Sheets (a popular spreadsheet app) lack this amazingly insightful and easy-to-read chart.

We recommend installing a particular add-on called ChartExpo in your Google Sheets to access ready-to-use, insightful, and visually appealing Pareto Charts.

ChartExpo comes loaded with easy-to-interpret and visually stunning Pareto Charts in quality control you can use for data stories. 

You don’t need programming or coding skills to visualize your data using Pareto Chart in ChartExpo. Furthermore, you can easily export your charts in the world’s most recognized formats, JPEG, PNG, SVG, and PDF.

How to make a Pareto in Google Sheets should never throw a curveball at you.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial today to access a complete list of ready-made, insightful, and visually appealing Pareto Chart.