4. Quality methods and tools

Putting quality into practice, both within the company (internal quality) and in its relations with customers (external quality), requires the use of methods and means, often very simple and almost banal, sometimes sophisticated and in any case specific to quality.

The authors commonly distinguish seven classic and seven new tools, according to a mnemonic presentation dear to the Asians.

We won't follow it. Likewise, the methods we present are more a collection of tools. In fact, the distinction between methods and tools is rather blurred, so difficult is it to separate the latter from the way in which they are used.