What techniques can be used for improvement?
■ Many of the techniques described throughout this book could be considered improvement
techniques, for example statistical process control (SPC).
■ Techniques often seen as ‘improvement techniques’ are:
– scatter diagrams, which attempt to identify relationships and influences within processes;
– flow charts, which attempt to describe the nature of information flow and decision-making
within operations;
– cause–effect diagrams, which structure the brainstorming that can help to reveal the root
causes of problems;
– Pareto diagrams, which attempt to sort out the ‘important few’ causes from the ‘trivial many’
causes;
– Why–why analysis that pursues a formal questioning to find root causes of problems.