Fundamentals of total quality management 80 7.8 THE CAUSE-AND-EFFECT DIAGRAM AND THE CONNECTION WITH THE PARETO DIAGRAM AND STRATIFICATION The cause-and-effect diagram is also called an Ishikawa diagram because the diagram was first introduced by Dr Kaoru Ishikawa in 1943 in connection with a quality programme at the Kawasaki Steel Works in Japan. Sometimes the diagram is also called a fishbone diagram. Cause-and-effect diagrams can be extremely useful tools for hypothesizing about the causes of quality defects and problems. The diagram's strength is that itis both simple to use and understand and it can be used in all departments at al levels. Returning to the underlying connection between quality tools, when the first cause- and-effect diagram has been drawn, it is necessary to identify the most important causes, including the eventual testing of some of them. It is not always easy to identify the most important causes of a given quality problem. If it were, poor quality would be a rare ‘occurrence and this is far from being the case. ‘Most causes can be put down to men, materials, management, methods, machinery and milieu (the environment), ef. Figure 7.3. ‘The above diagram may be a good starting point for constructing the first cause-and- effect diagram for a given problem. Note that there are now six main causes in the diagram, Whether any of the six causes can be left out must be determined separately in specific problem situation, Men Management! Problem Materials Machines. Milies Fig. 7.3 A cause-and-effect diagram showing the most common main causes of a given problem. Identification of the main causes is carried out through a series of data analyses in which the other quality tools (stratification, check sheets ete.) may be extremely useful when hard data are collected. Some situations call for the use of more advanced statistical methods, e.g. design of experiments or when soft data are used the so-called ‘seven new ‘management tools’ which are presented in Chapter 8. ‘When hard data are not available you can only construct the causeand-effect diagram by using soft data. One method is to use brainstorming and constructing an affinity diagram (Chapter 8) which can be used as an input to a further brainstorming process or itro”F professionalTools for the quality journey 81 cause analysis where the participants try to describe the first identified causes from the affinity diagram in more detail. This cause analysis consists of a series of why...? questions, ef. Toyota's method, ‘the five whys’. The answer to the first ‘why’ will typically consist of a list of the problems which have prevented the results being as planned. It will normally be quite easy 10 collect data for a Pareto diagram at this level. The answer to the next ‘why’ will be an enumeration of the causes of one or more of the problems which were uncovered after the first ‘why’. The third ‘why’ seeks to uncover causes of causes and the questions continue until the problems/causes have become so concrete that it is possible to start planning how to contol them, Ifthe problems/causes are so abstract that planning a quality improvement programme to control them is too difficult, then the questions must continue. Thus it can be seen that the cause-and-effect diagram and the Pareto diagram can and in many cases ought to be used simultaneously. ‘The answers to the individual ‘whys’ can be directly plotted on the first constructed cause-and-effect diagram, making if gradually more and more detailed. The main trunk and branches of the diagram show the answers to the first ‘why’, while secondary branches show the answers to the next ‘why’, and so on, cf. Figure 7.4. Having been very careful in this process the cause-and-effect diagram may look like a fish where the causes resemble fishbones, Cause 1 Fig. 7.4 Identifying root causes ofa quality problem. On completion of the data analyses and with the most important causes identified, quality planning can begin. Quality planning involves both determining which preventive ‘methods to use in controlling identified causes and setting goals for ‘planned action’ ‘Since it is not such a good idea to ‘attack’ all the causes at the same time, the Pareto diagram may be a valuable tool. An example of how the Pareto diagram can be used can be seen in Figure 7.5. It can be seen from Figure 7.5 that problem A (=cause A) has consumed by far the most working time and more than the other three problems together. It is therefore decided to ‘attack’ this problem first and a method is found to control A. After one rotation of the Deming Circle (Plan-Do-Check-Act), a new Pareto diagram can be constructed. This can be seen in the right part of Figure 7.5 and it now shows that new quality improvement activities ought to be directed towards problems B and C which now constitute the ‘vital few". The Pareto diagram in Figure 7.5 shows that the quality itro”F professionalFundamentals of total quality management 82 improvement programme has been effective. If there is not any change in ‘the vital few" after one rotation of the Deming Circle, itis a sign that the programme has not been effective. In the above, we have equated problems with causes. This is perhaps a bit confusing but the explanation is really quite simple. If'a problem has many causes, which is often the case, then it can be necessary to construct a cause-and-effect diagram to show in more detail exactly which causes underlie the given problem. If data on the individual causes are available, then the Pareto diagram can be used again afterwards, as shown in Figure 7.8. The Pareto diagram can therefore be used both at the problem level and the cause level. This can be extremely useful in connection with step 4 of the Deming Circle, ie. in connection with the analysis of causes. Ee) ? z ] E20 fa i Ll € 100] 0 — g o 0 ra rr) Bolte walty Aer cualy wnovaney oe Fig. 75 An example ofthe use ofa Parcto diagram before and after the implementation of a preventive method, ‘The Pareto diagram, which is used in connection with data analysis, can only be used to the extent that data exists on the problems or causes. Quality planning should therefore also take account of the data which are expected to be used in the subsequent data and causal analyses. Since, as previously mentioned, the cause-and-effect diagram is basically a hypothesis of the connection between the plotted causes and the stated problem, then it should also be used in the planning of which data to collect. If this is neglected, it can be very difficult to test the hypotheses of the cause-and-effect diagram and thus difficult to identify the most important causes. This brings us to the important stratification principle which, in Japan, is regarded as the third most important quality tool, after the cause-and-effect and Pareto diagrams, ef. Table 7.1 ‘The principle of stratification is, simply, that consignments of goods must not be mixed up, so making effective data analysis impossible. Put another way, it should be possible to divide production results up into a sufficiently large number of subgroups (strata) to enable an effective causal analysis to be carried out. This is made easier if itro”* professionalTools for the quality journey 83 measurements of the production result are supplemented by data on the most important causes, Experience shows, eg. that measurements ofthe production result in many Imanufactring fis ought fo be supplemented hy data om people (which oper), materials (which supplier), machines (ype, age, fatry), ime ime of ay, day. season), environment empertare, humidity) ete Without sich dita, can, be impossible o determine wheter the cause ofa paticlar quality problem an be narrowed down fo patiulr operator or wheter it is defo something completely diferent In Denmark, statication was ranked eighth out often quality tools, withthe Pareto and cause-and-effect diagrams coming in t numbers and 6 respectively. In Japan these thre were ranked asthe thee most important guaif tools ofthe 10. This makes easier to understand Deming’ characterization of the Japanese: “They don't work harder, just smarter” When constructing cause-and-effect diagrams it may sometimes be @ good idea to equate the main causes inthe diagram with the processes to follow when producing a product or service. The production proces of preparing (boiling) rice can be used a5 an example "The rice i the rw material which has to be washed ist (process 1). Next, thence i boiled (process 2) ina pot (means of production) and finaly, the vie “steamed” at moderate hat fora suitable period of tine (process 3), Delicious rice Fig. 7.6 The quality you wish to improve. ‘The following steps are used in the construction of the cause-and-effect diagram: ‘Step 1: Choose the quality you wish to improve or control. In the ‘rice example’ it is the taste of rice. The effect most people wish to obtain is “delicious rice’ ‘Step 2: Write the desired quality in the *box’ to the right and draw a fat arrow from the left towards the box on the right. ‘Step 3: Write down the most important factors (causes) that may be of importance to the quality considered. These possible causes are written in boxes and arrows are drawn, from the boxes towards the fat arrow drawn in Figure 7.6. Within quality control of industrial products, the “six Ms’ are often listed as the most important potential causes, ie. + manpower + materials, + methods + machines + management + milieu, This division is only one out of many possible divisions, however and in the production process under review it may be relevant to disregard one or more of the above causes and another division may also be informative. itro”* professionalFundamentals of total quality management 84 In the “rice example" the main causes shown in Figure 7.7 have been chosen, (Press) mets were ‘Steaming Z [Pe Washing eng Sanving Press Press ana) 7.7 The main causes for cooking delicious rice. In Figure 7.7 the ‘serving process’ has been included, as that may be the reason why the rice is regarded as being delicious (or the opposite). Step 4: New arrows or branches are now drawn on each of the side arrows in Figure 7.7 explaining in greater detail what may be the cause of the desired effect. New branches ( arrows) may be drawn on these branches, describing in even greater detail what the possible causes are. If this method is used in connection with group discussion or ‘brainstorming’, there is a greater chance that the causes will be uncovered. Often new causes, hitherto unknown, will ‘pop up’ as a result of a brainstorming and the construction of the ‘cause and-effect diagram’ Figure 7.8 shows the cause-and-effect diagram in the rice examples, It should be pointed out that the ‘cause-and-effect diagram’ shown in Figure 7.8 is only one of several possible results. Some will be of the opinion that the causes shown are less important and can therefore be left out, while others will be of the opinion that the way the rice is served has nothing to do with ‘delicious rice’. In that connection itis important, of course, that you fully understand the event (here ‘delicious rice’). To a Japanese, the importance of ‘delicious rice’ will be different from the importance of delicious rice to a Dane and the importance varies from person to person. What is needed, in fact, is a specification explaining in detail what exactly is meant by the event indicated, In practical quality control the ‘cause-and-effect diagram’ is typically used in the production process partly as a means of finding the causes of the quality problems that ‘may arise and partly as a daily reminder of the causes to be inspected if the production result is to be satisfactory. Together with the process control charts and the Pareto diagram the ‘cause-and-effect diagram’ is probably the most widely used quality control technique at the process level, ie. thus also the technique most often used by quality circles. itro”* professional‘Tools for the quality journey 85 cmc LOE] tp tog BAD an \ 4} paca wet STF ge 7 sna Cine KS we San a ” x = OT fom mace / / mime / ‘ve / ¥ foal A re Oy, ine Fig. 7.8 An example of a cause-and-effect diagram, The ‘cause-and-effect diagram’ can be used in all departments of a company, however, from product development to sales and, as mentioned before, on problems other than quality problems, @ nitro”™ professional