#Ishikawa diagram template word how to#

The point is to for each team member to contribute his or her expertise until a complete picture of possible causes is presented for all to see in a clear, comprehensive format, taking the analysis to as many levels downward as it needs to go. Thus, under each rib there may be possible causes, and the possible causes may have subsets, and they, in turn may have sub-subsets. The sub-causes there could be poor machinist training, poor soldering, or unskilled mechanics. Under the Manpower rib mentioned earlier, a possible cause might be poor training. Under each possible cause on each rib, your team may undercover possible sub-causes. On the Materials rib, possible causes might include low quality steel, micro-contaminates in the water, or any number of other possible causes as might come to light.Īnd, it doesn’t end here. On the Machine rib, the possible causes include a poorly calibrated lathe or a sub-par welding arc. The classes of possible causes for this type of operation, the ribs of this problem, could include Method, Materials, Measurement, Environment, Manpower or Machine. The problem under analysis could be manufacturing defects. But by no means are you limited to these choices. The 4 S’s, as an example, are Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems and Skills. In the literature, the most commonly discussed sets of ribs are the 6 M’s, the 4 P’s, and the 4 S’s. One of the sources of the power of the Fishbone Diagram methodology comes from interchangeable sets of ribs that can be applied to different types of problems. Each rib is taken to represent a different class of the possible causes of the problem under analysis. Attached to this spine are other lines, our fish’s bones, or ribs. A horizontal line, our fish’s spine, is drawn leftwards on the page.

#Ishikawa diagram template word how to#

How to Fill Out a Fishbone DiagramĪt the fish’s head, on the leftmost edge of the diagram, is a block that contains within it a short description of an undesirable outcome – a problem to be analyzed. It’s a great way to document and categorize a comprehensive effort to examine any and all steps in a process and not miss any potential bottlenecks.

Fishbone Diagrams can be especially useful to teams in the first stages of analyzing problems, and even to anticipate problems before they happen.