The “Cause and Effect Template Package” is a professionally produced, ready to use template that can be used in either a production or office environment. The Cause and Effect helps the problem solver to look at the problem at another way to understand how future instances occur.
What is it: Cause and Effect Matrix Analysis is a process that generates and sorts hypotheses about possible causes of problems within
a process by asking participants to list all of the
possible causes for the identified problem. Cause and Effect analyses allow problem solvers to broaden their
thinking and look at the overall picture of a problem
yet provides a roadmap to areas of concern.
Why use it: Improve processes, reduce nonconformances, mishaps, and escapements – resulting in an error
free environment. Strengthen contribution to all programs
and organizations.
These are excellent tools for developing ideas about the causes of a situation.
Simple tool that can be used by everyone
Helps avoid tunnel vision and discourages groupthink in
problem analysis by forcing exploration of diverse areas of
potential causes
Adaptable to almost any problem
Excellent group engagement tool
Usefulness extends beyond initial problem resolution
May be used for both pre- and post-event
Where to use it:
Functional Failures
Mishaps
Near miss
Non-conformances
Process Escapements
Opportunities for Improvement – Lean / Six Sigma projects
When to use it: Cause and Effect Matrix Analysis is a continuous improvement tool
it prevents complacency by encouraging ongoing investigation beyond
identification of obvious failure causes.
Preempt future problems by studying potential causes
Proactive response to possible process variation
Analyze causes and effects of past events
Reactive response to process variation
Reliance on known facts eases analysis
Investigate trends identified by other quality tools (control
charts, histograms, paretos, scatter diagrams, etc)
Can apply to any process – financial performance, audit
findings/performance, safety incidents, on-time deliveries,
etc
How to use it: Cause and Effect Matrix is used to get to the true ROOT CAUSE. Cause and Effect Matrix may be used to address process dispersion two ways:
