Quality Assurance and Improvement Flashcards

A team discovers that 80% of defects come from 20% of process steps. Which quality tool best illustrates this finding?

Answer: Pareto chart

A Pareto chart visualizes the 80/20 rule by ranking defect causes from most to least frequent.

Which of the following best describes 'process capability'?

Answer: The ability of a process to meet specified tolerances consistently

Process capability measures how well a process produces output within defined specification limits.

A quality inspector uses random sampling to test products without destroying them. What sampling approach is this?

Answer: Acceptance sampling

Acceptance sampling tests a random subset of a batch to decide whether to accept or reject the entire lot.

Which quality philosophy emphasizes that quality should be built into the product rather than inspected in?

Answer: W. Edwards Deming

Deming advocated building quality into processes from the start rather than relying on final inspection.

What does a fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram primarily help teams identify?

Answer: Potential root causes of a quality problem

A fishbone diagram organizes potential causes of a problem into categories to support root cause analysis.

A manufacturer sets upper and lower specification limits at ±3 standard deviations from the mean. Approximately what percentage of output falls within these limits?

Answer: 99.7%

In a normal distribution, ±3 standard deviations from the mean captures approximately 99.7% of all values.

A control chart shows several consecutive data points trending steadily upward, all within control limits. What does this indicate?

Answer: A non-random pattern suggesting a special cause

A run of consecutive points trending in one direction is a non-random signal that warrants investigation, even within limits.