The Psychology of Quality and More

A Toolbook for Quality Improvement and Problem Solving (contents)

Bar Chart: Examples

The Quality Toolbook > Bar Chart > Examples

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

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Example

A corporate finance department regularly reported expenses of group companies in a Bar Chart, which was then used to help identify improvement opportunities. It was noticed that the company with the highest expenses also had the highest overhead costs. A subsequent project to improve this situation broke down these costs further, using a Pareto Chart. Solutions to the problems were found through the experiences of another group company that had already succeeded in reducing its overheads to the lowest in the group.

Fig. 1. Example Bar Chart

Other examples

• A school advertises its improved capability by using a Bar Chart to show the increasing number of exam passes at each grade, across several years.
• A lathe operator, when making a presentation to management about potential improvements, puts the contents of his check sheet into an attractive colored Bar Chart.
• A software project manager tracks weekly defect arrival, using a Bar Chart in which the defects are broken down further by severity. Thus in one chart, she can see an increase in the arrival of critical defects, even when the overall arrival rate is decreasing.

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