The physical setup of the work area – whether a desk or a factory workstation – should maximize the flow of the project, and there should be sufficient lighting and ventilation for workers to perform their work efficiently. The sequence of the steps used in the work must allow for the most efficient assembly of the product or for providing the service efficiently. You must find an efficient method that provides a good product.

In evaluating methods, you must determine whether the work standards are adequate and safe. Workers and management must also make adequate provision for storage and material handling. An adequate supply of the correct materials is essential to sustain the service or manufacturing process. Several companies that relied on a single suppler for materials or systems, including Boeing, Caterpillar and Toyota, sustained significant difficulties when those materials and systems failed. While kaizen proposes minimizing the number of suppliers, this allows a supplier’s quality problems to propagate through your system. Quality standards for materials must be adequate, and you must check the materials as they arrive from the supplier for impurities, irregularities, damage or waste. Equipment that requires fuel, lubrication or inspection must be adequately fueled and lubricated, and required inspections must be kept up-to-date. If the equipment requires precision adjustments, make the adjustments in a timely manner. If equipment problems can interrupt the process, consider using suitable machinery that does not require frequent adjustment. If there is enough of the right type of equipment to do the job, ensure it is in working order or procure additional equipment to handle an excess load. Your equipment or facilities must be adequate for the job, both in capacity and capabilities. They must be problem-conscious that is, they must stay alert to the potential for waste and take responsibility for seeking solutions to problems. They must follow the standards set for their activities and their efficiency must be acceptable. Workers must be qualified to do the work to which they are assigned and have appropriate experience. The worker should be able to maintain good relations with other workers when working on group projects. You must assign the right worker to a job. The more complex versions of this tool can incorporate more major categories depending on the nature of the problem and factors that could impact a process. The design of the diagram looks much like the skeleton of a fish, hence the designation “fishbone” diagram.īasic Ishikawa Diagrams are made up of four major categories, most typically Man, Machine, Materials, and Methods. Because of the function of the fishbone diagram, it may be referred to as a cause-and-effect diagram. The diagraming process is derived from the quality management process, it’s an analysis tool that provides a systematic way of looking at effects and the causes that create or contribute to those effects. Conditions are usually grouped into major categories to identify and classify these sources of variation. Each condition or reason for imperfection is a source of variation. Often referred to as fishbone diagrams,The Ishikawa diagram was created by Kaoru Ishikawa that show the causes of a specific event.Ĭommon uses of the Ishikawa diagram are product design and quality defect prevention to identify potential factors causing an overall effect.

Ishikawa diagram kaizen