Cause and Effect Diagrams also called Fishbone diagram is a process improvement technique that enables taking action on the causes of variation. In practical applications, the number of possible causes of variation for any given problem can be of different varieties. The fishbone diagram was developed by Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa as a simple method of graphically displaying the causes of any given quality problem. They are tools that are used to organize and graphically display all of the knowledge associated with a problem. It represents the result of the brainstorming exercise a group has relating to a particular problem.
Types of Cause and Effect Diagrams
The following are two types of cause and effect diagram:
Implementing Cause and Effect Analysis
The following are some steps for implementing cause and effect analysis:
Constructing the Fishbone Diagram
Constructing the cause and effect diagram is very simple, and it involves the following steps:
A good cause and effect diagram should have many “twigs”. A fishbone diagram having a lot of smaller branches indicates show thorough understanding of the problem.