Remembering the Past, Building the Future – a talk focused on dynamic interactive data visualization

Remembering the Past, Building the Future – a talk focused on dynamic interactive data visualization

One-hundred years ago, Dr. Walter Shewhart, created a small two-page memo describing a new idea – the Control Chart. Many consider modern quality management to have started with that memo. World War II accelerated the application of quality
management in the United States, and the formation of the American Society for Quality Control in 1946 continued to further the progress. Severe competition from Japan in the 1980’s, the introduction of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and what we now call Lean Six Sigma created a focus on quality even greater than in the war years.

Although statistical graphics have a long history from even before William Playfair in the late 1700’s and work by Florence Nightingale and Sir John Snow in the 1800’s, they have been used far too little in quality management. Kaoru Ishikawa’s small book, Guide to Quality Control, published in 1956, introduced millions of people to seven simple quality tools – most of these were statistical graphics. The use of modern quality software has made the use of statistical graphics in quality management widespread. We are just beginning to see dynamic interactive data visualizations being introduced. In this presentation, we will discuss some straightforward rules on how to use these new methods and give numerous examples on how these visualizations will change quality management radically in the near future.

Speakers