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Facility maintenance and equipment maintenance are detective games to solve nagging problems in the world. A crime scene, a failed machine, or a stopped production line is presented to you, along with a list of symptoms; yet, the real culprit remains at large. Why did the motor overheat? Was it lubrication, a bearing failure, or the fault of an operator?
That is where the Fishbone Diagram comes in. This visual tool is also referred to as the Ishikawa diagram, and it presents a systematic method for breaking down the layers of a particular problem and identifying the root cause of the issue. Combined with the statistical impetus of a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), it is an indomitable tool against an unexpected outage.
This is how you may use Fishbone Diagrams to leave temporary solutions behind and go to permanent ones.
The Fishbone Diagram functions as a visual brainstorming instrument that assists users in identifying, examining, and presenting all potential reasons that lead to a specific problem.
It gets its unique name from its shape:
In its initial inception, it was created by Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa in the 1960s as a quality control measure, but has, over time, become a part of maintenance management as a root cause analysis (RCA). It compels the team not to see the symptoms that are on the surface, but to classify causes in order to identify the problem.
In order to make a Fishbone Diagram effective, it is not sufficient to enumerate haphazard causes on the list; it is necessary to classify them. When applied to maintenance and manufacturing, the industry standard on these categories is termed the 6 Ms.
Listing the ideas in the following buckets, this way you will make sure that there is no area of your operation that was not covered by your brainstorming:
Using the 6 Ms provides a structured "skeleton" for your diagram, forcing your team to look beyond the obvious symptoms and investigate every variable that could contribute to failure.
Creating a Fishbone Diagram is best done as a team exercise. Here is a simple 5-step process to get started:
Clearly state the issue you are facing. Write this at the center-right of your whiteboard or screen and draw a box around it. This is the "Head" of the fish. Example: "Hydraulic Pump Failure."
Draw a horizontal arrow pointing toward the problem statement. This serves as the central backbone of your diagram.
Draw diagonal lines branching off the spine for each of the 6 Ms (Machine, Method, Material, Manpower, Measurement, Mother Nature). Label them clearly.
Ask your team, "Why is this happening?" for each category.
Review the diagram. Look for recurring themes or causes that appear in multiple categories. Circle the most likely culprits and plan your investigation.
The 5 Whys technique may be familiar to you. How does it compare with the Fishbone Diagram?
Synergy: It is usually best to apply them in combination. The Fishbone Diagram is used to brainstorm all the possible causes, and the 5 Whys is used to narrow down on the most likely causes to derive the absolute root cause.
Even though a Fishbone Diagram is based on brainstorming, Cryotos CMMS will give you the facts to test your ideas.
You do not necessarily have to be guided by guessing when your team will put forward a possible cause, like maybe the filter was not changed on time. Cryotos provides you with the ability to access all the data stored inside and be sure of the facts.
A combination of your Fishbone sessions and Cryotos CMMS is what makes your analysis more than a theoretical activity; a strategy that is based on facts.
To do away with the maintenance issues, it takes more than a wrench; it takes an organized way of thinking. The Fishbone Diagram gives your team the power to see and visualize complicated problems, work together to achieve success, and prevent a symptom chase.
Nonetheless, the only way a diagram is good is by the quality of data that feeds it. With such a visual tool and the powerful tracking and reporting functionality of Cryotos CMMS, you can develop a culture of being proactive, whereby issues are not necessarily resolved but are resolved permanently. Make sure that history does not repeat itself in your facility. Provide your team with tools that would help convert downtime into uptime.
Ready to Streamline Your Maintenance Operations? The Cryotos CMMS system enables users to efficiently monitor their assets while they handle work order management and execute data-based investigations for Root Cause Analysis.
