Pareto Analysis uses which principle to focus on a small number of tasks that yield most of the benefits?

• A. FMEA
• B. Run Chart
• C. Pareto Analysis
• D. Histogram

Answer: (C)

Pareto Analysis is built on the Pareto principle: a small set of causes typically accounts for the majority of effects. By collecting data on issues, ranking causes by how often they occur or how much impact they have, and displaying them (often in a Pareto chart), you identify the vital few problems that, when addressed, yield the greatest benefit. This focus lets you allocate resources to the changes that will produce the most improvement. Other tools serve different purposes: FMEA looks at potential failure modes and their risks, a Run Chart tracks process performance over time, and a Histogram shows the distribution of a variable. They don’t inherently prioritize the few causes that drive most outcomes the way Pareto Analysis does.