What is a Pareto Chart? Analysis & Diagram - ASQ

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 ... |CartTotal: Checkout Dismiss Menu closemenu Pareto Home Membership PlanYourCareer-InBeta Learning CorporateTraining SpecializedCredentials ASQConnEx FindanExpert Certification CertificationPreparation Recertification QualityResources Conferences&Events Books&Standards Communities QualityProgressMagazine ASQTV FindQualityJobs AboutASQ AboutASQE LearnAboutQuality SEARCH MagazinesandJournalssearch AboutParetoChart Resources RelatedTopics AboutParetoChart SevenBasicQualityTools CheckSheet ControlChart Fishbone/Ishikawa/Cause-and-Effect Histogram ScatterDiagram Stratification ParetoChartResources Articles Books CaseStudies Division Jobs Journal Training Videos ParetoChartRelatedTopics ContinuousImprovement ProblemSolving ProcessAnalysisTools ProcessManagement QualityTools&Templates Home / QualityResources / Pareto WhatisaParetoChart? QualityGlossaryDefinition:Paretochart Alsocalled:Paretodiagram,Paretoanalysis Variations:weightedParetochart,comparativeParetocharts AParetochartisabargraph.Thelengthsofthebarsrepresentfrequencyorcost(timeormoney),andarearrangedwithlongestbarsontheleftandtheshortesttotheright.Inthiswaythechartvisuallydepictswhichsituationsaremoresignificant.Thiscauseanalysistool isconsideredoneofthesevenbasicqualitytools. WhentouseaParetochart Paretochartprocedure Paretochartexamples CreateaParetochart Paretochartresources WhentoUseaParetoChart Whenanalyzingdataaboutthefrequencyofproblemsorcausesinaprocess Whentherearemanyproblemsorcausesandyouwanttofocusonthemostsignificant Whenanalyzingbroadcausesbylookingattheirspecificcomponents Whencommunicatingwithothersaboutyourdata Lookingformorequalitytools? TryPlan-Do-Study-Act(PDSA)PlusQTools™Training: ASQQualityTools- ParetoChart ASQQualityTools-Plan-Do-Study-ActplusQToolsTM QTools™Suite ParetoChartProcedure Decidewhatcategoriesyouwillusetogroupitems. Decidewhatmeasurementisappropriate.Commonmeasurementsarefrequency,quantity,costandtime. DecidewhatperiodoftimetheParetochartwillcover:Oneworkcycle?Onefullday?Aweek? Collectthedata,recordingthecategoryeachtime,orassembledatathatalreadyexist. Subtotalthemeasurementsforeachcategory. Determinetheappropriatescaleforthemeasurementsyouhavecollected.Themaximumvaluewillbethelargestsubtotalfromstep5.(Ifyouwilldooptionalsteps8and9below,themaximumvaluewillbethesumofallsubtotalsfromstep5.)Markthescaleontheleftsideofthechart. Constructandlabelbarsforeachcategory.Placethetallestatthefarleft,thenthenexttallesttoitsright,andsoon.Iftherearemanycategorieswithsmallmeasurements,theycanbegroupedas“other.” Note:Steps8and9areoptionalbutareusefulforanalysisandcommunication. Calculatethepercentageforeachcategory:thesubtotalforthatcategorydividedbythetotalforallcategories.Drawarightverticalaxisandlabelitwithpercentages.Besurethetwoscalesmatch.Forexample,theleftmeasurementthatcorrespondstoone-halfshouldbeexactlyopposite50%ontherightscale. Calculateanddrawcumulativesums:addthesubtotalsforthefirstandsecondcategories,andplaceadotabovethesecondbarindicatingthatsum.Tothatsumaddthesubtotalforthethirdcategory,andplaceadotabovethethirdbarforthatnewsum.Continuetheprocessforallthebars.Connectthedots,startingatthetopofthefirstbar.Thelastdotshouldreach100%ontherightscale. ParetoChartExamples Figure1showshowmanycustomercomplaintswerereceivedineachoffivecategories. Figure2takesthelargestcategory,"documents,"fromFigure1,breaksitdownintosixcategoriesofdocument-relatedcomplaints,andshowscumulativevalues. Ifallcomplaintscauseequaldistresstothecustomer,workingoneliminatingdocument-relatedcomplaintswouldhavethemostimpact,andofthose,workingonqualitycertificatesshouldbemostfruitful. Figure1:ParetoChart,CustomerComplaints Figure2:ParetoChart,DocumentComplaints CreateaPARETOCHART UsetheParetocharttemplate (Excel)tocreateaParetochartandanalyzetheoccurrencesofupto10defectsbyenteringthedefectsonthechecksheet.  ParetoChartTemplateExample ParetoChartResources Youcanalsosearcharticles,casestudies,andpublications forParetochartresources. Books TheQualityToolbox Articles Don'tMisuseTheParetoPrinciple(SixSigmaForumMagazine)FourcommonlyheldmisconceptionsoftheParetoprinciplearediscussedthathavepreventedsomecompaniesfromrealizingthetruepotentialoftheprinciple. The3-DParetoChart(QualityProgress)ThisarticlediscussesthetraditionalParetochart,aversioncalledthetrendingParetochart,andtheextensionofthedatafromatrendingParetocharttoa3-Dformat. CaseStudies BudgetaryBandage(QualityProgress)Facedwithrisingcostsofdeliveringwoundcaretopatients,apublichealthcaresysteminCanadalaunchedanimprovementprojecttofindsavings,utilizingDMAIC,Paretocharts,andotherSixSigma methodologies. Courses ASQQualityTools-ParetoChart QTools™Suite Webcasts AnIntroductionToTheSevenBasicQualityToolsWebcastInthisintroductiontooneofASQ'smostpopularseriesofwebcasts,Dr.JackReVelleprovidesabriefdescriptionandexampleofeachofthesevenbasicqualitycontroltools:datatables,Paretocharts,scatteranalysis,causeandeffectanalysis,trendanalysis,histograms,andcontrolcharts. AdaptedfromTheQualityToolbox,ASQQualityPress. FeaturedAdvertisers