Quality Improvement Pareto Chart Example

A pareto chart graphically illustrates the 80/20 principle. This is where, for example, 20% of the causes explain 80% of the consequences.

The following example below is from the quality improvement area. See below graph for explanation.

As you can see two of the five problems (40%) account for about 80% of the problems. Sometimes the 80/20 rule does not add up to 100%. In this case it is 120%. Often it can be 70/30 or 90/40 or whatever. the ratio really indicates that things in this world are skewed, that

• the majority has little impact but
• the minority has major impact

Notice how the 80% cumulative level cuts the red line roughly at the second problem column (40% of the Problems).

This chart was made Microsoft Excel.

Go to Top of 'Pareto Chart Example' page

Back To 'What is the Pareto Principle' page

Back to 'Business Intelligence' Home Page