TODAY marks the centennial of one of the most significant innovations in quality management: the control chart. “A ‘special cause’ for celebration.” Brian Buck, on LinkedIn LOL. Shewhart’s Breakthrough: Understanding Variation In the early 1920s, Walter A. Shewhart, working at Bell Labs, recognized the need for a statistical method to monitor and control manufacturing processes. On May 16, 1924, Shewhart created the first “control chart,” a tool that distinguished between common-cause variation (inherent in the … Continue reading 100 Years of Shewhart’s Control Charts: Why They Still Matter for Quality and Leadership