Fishbone diagramOne of the main tools used in TQM to analyze the root causes for a problem is Ishikawa diagram or the fishbone diagram. This is a simple graphical method to represent the problems and root causes for those problems. One main advantage of this diagram is the ability to show many levels of causes simultaneously. So it can be used to get a full idea about the problem and to analyze it fully. This diagram gets its name because it creates a fishbone like a structure when finished. It is also called cause and effect diagram due to the purpose it serve. Name Ishikawa diagram is to honor the introducer of this tool. All the three names mean the same in TQM. We will take an example to describe this tool. Take your problem as the regular machine breakdowns. So you have found the main causes for the machine breakdown as the improper maintenance, lack of user awareness, voltage fluctuations, poor quality machinery itself. We will put them in a diagram as below.
As you can see data is clearly organized. Analysis of data is easy. A fishbone diagram can be understood easily. This is one of the great ways in TQM and lean manufacturing to find root causes of the problems, so that the problem can be removed from the system easily. |
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