Cause-and-Effect Diagram

The cause-and-effect diagram is important in determining causes and effects of a problem. The cause-and-effect diagram is also known as the Ishikawa diagram, or the fishbone diagram. Creating the diagram requires knowledge of causes for a problem and the effect of the problem. This is also a good brainstorming tool.

Read the following scenario and respond the questions that follow in a 3- to 4-page Microsoft Word document.

A large farm produces a number of vegetables for sale to the highest bidder (usually buyers who aggregate the produce from lots of small farms and sell the produce to grocery store chains). The farm is receiving complaints about the quality of its produce. More specifically, complaints are being received about the produce being damaged or bruised, becoming inedible too quickly, or not being consistent with the package label (in terms of how much produce is in each box or container).

• Identify potential quality concerns in the traditional areas of machinery, employees, measurements, and materials.

• Organize these quality concerns using a cause-and-effect diagram.

• Recommend potential changes to these traditional areas to attempt to reduce or eliminate the quality problems that are leading to the complaints.