Pareto Chart: Examples

The Quality Toolbook > Pareto Chart > Examples

When to use it | How to understand it | Example | How to use it | Practical variations

<-- Previous | Next -->

Example

A purchasing department often wasted time going back to managers who gave them order forms which could not be used for some reason or another. So they recorded the problems over one month and plotted a Pareto Chart. A clear majority of problems were due to missing information. To narrow down the cause, they did a survey of managers, asking why they missed out information. The replies fell into four categories, which were plotted in a second Pareto Chart (see Fig. ).

As a result, they produced two order forms. One suited most purposes, and was very clear and simple. The other was more complex, but was needed by only a few people.

Fig. 1. Example Pareto Chart

Other examples

• A team in a glass manufacturer use a Pareto Chart to sort classifications of reject window glass. A Cause-Effect Diagram is then used to identify causes of the highest bar.
• A publisher draws a Pareto Chart of errors found in published books and uses this to produce an ordered checklist to help proofreaders.
• A sales team use a Pareto Chart to identify the techniques which result in large orders being placed with minimum sales effort.

<-- Previous | Next -->