CHAPTER 2 –

PROBLEM-
SOLVING
TOOLS
Prepared by: Engr. Gerald Ian A. Santos, MSc, CLSSYB
Faculty, Department of Industrial Engineering
We all spend a lot of our time solving
problems, both at work and in our personal
lives.
Some problems are small, and we can
quickly sort them out ourselves. But others
are complex challenges that take
collaboration, creativity, and a considerable
amount of effort to solve.

At work, the types of problems we face

depend largely on the organizations we're in
and the jobs we do.
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STEPS IN PROBLEM
SOLVING

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LEAN PROBLEM-SOLVING MODEL
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EXPLORATORY
TOOLS

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PARETO ANALYSIS

The Pareto Analysis is named after the economist

Vilfredo Pareto, who specifies that 80% of consequences
(results) come from 20% of the causes (actions). The principle
asserts an unequal relationship between outputs and inputs in
1896.

The Pareto Analysis is also known as the Pareto Rule

and the 80/20 Rule and is a general reminder that the
relationship between outputs and inputs is not balanced.
When it comes to productivity, the Pareto Principle is based
on the idea that 80% of the results we achieve come from 20%
of the actions we take.
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THE PARETO CHART

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THE PARETO CHART

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USES OF PARETO CHART
Quality improvement
Highlight high-priority area
to bust a myth
Deeper investigation
To separate the most significant from trivial
ones
To reduce largest bars identified

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PARETO ARE WIDELY USED IN:
Lean manufacturing
Healthcare
Productivity improvement
Business world
Wealth distribution
Economics
Software development

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WHAT IS THE 80/20 RULE?
The 80/20 Rule states that nearly 80% of the effects come from
20% of the causes. The Pareto Charts assist teams in focusing on areas of
improvement with the greatest impact. The Pareto Principle is also
known as the universal principle of the “vital few and trivial many.” In a
Pareto Chart, the cumulative percentage of data that fall under the 80%
line indicates the categories known as the vital few (or the 20% of the
Rule).
The data points above the 80% line indicate the trivial many
categories (or the 80% of the Rule). So, the vital few are the priority
areas that need to be addressed to make a major improvement. The vital
few are the causes that are contributing to 80% of the problems. Here is
how the 80/20 Rule impacts a business. For example, 80% of sales come
from 20% of clients, and 80% of complaints come from 20% of customers.

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FISHBONE DIAGRAM

Fishbone diagrams , also known as cause-and-effect

diagrams, were developed by Kaoru Ishikawa in the early 1950s
while he was working on a quality control project for Kawasaki
Steel Company. The method consists of defining an occurrence
of a typically undesirable event or problem, that is, the effect,
as the “fish head” and then identifying contributing factors,
that is, the causes , as “fish bones” attached to a backbone and
the fish head.
The principal causes are typically subdivided into five or
six major categories—the MAN, MACHINE, MATERIAL,
METHOD, ENVIRONMENT (MOTHER NATURE),
ADMINISTRATIVE, MEASUREMENT—each of which is further
subdivided into sub-causes. 12
FISHBONE DIAGRAM CONT’D
The process is continued until all possible causes are listed. A
good diagram will have several levels of bones and will provide a very
good overview of a problem and its contributing factors.
The factors are then critically analyzed in terms of their probable
contribution to the overall problem. Hopefully, this process will also tend
to identify potential solutions.
Fish diagrams have worked quite successfully in Japanese quality
circles, where input is expected from all levels of workers and managers.
Such diagrams may prove to be less successful in U.S. industry, where the
cooperation between labor and management may be less effective in
producing the desired solutions and outcomes (Cole, 1979)

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FISHBONE DIAGRAM EXAMPLES
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FISHBONE DIAGRAM EXAMPLE

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WHAT IS THE 80/20 RULE?
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GANTT CHART
The Gantt chart was probably the first project planning
and control technique to emerge during the 1940s in response
to the need to better manage complex defense projects and
systems. A Gantt chart simply shows the anticipated
completion times for various project activities as bars plotted
against time on the horizontal axis.
Actual completion times are shown by shading the bars
appropriately. If a vertical line is drawn through a given date,
you can easily determine which project components are ahead
of or behind schedule.

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GANTT CHART
A Gantt chart forces the project planner to develop a
plan ahead of time and provides a quick snapshot of the
progress of the project at any given time. Unfortunately, it
does not always completely describe the interaction between
different project activities.

The Gantt chart can also be utilized for sequencing

machine activity on the plant floor. The machine-based chart
can include repair or maintenance activity by crossing out the
time period in which the planned downtime will occur.

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GANTT CHART EXAMPLES

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PERT CHARTING
PERT stands for Program Evaluation and Review
Technique. A PERT Chart also referred to as a network diagram
or critical path method, is a planning and control tool that
graphically portrays the optimum way to attain some
predetermined objective, generally in terms of time.
This technique was employed by the U.S. military in the
design of such processes as the development of the Polaris
missile and the operation of control systems in nuclear-
powered submarines. Methods analysts usually use PERT
charting to improve scheduling through cost reduction or
customer satisfaction.

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ACTIVITY
Any individual operation which utilizes resources and
has an end and a beginning is called activity. An arrow
is commonly used to represent an activity with its
head indicating the direction of progress in the
project.

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PREDECESSOR ACTIVITY
Activities that must be completed immediately prior to the
start of another activity are called predecessor activities.

SUCCESSOR ACTIVITY
Activities that cannot be started until one or more of other
activities are completed but immediately succeed them are
called successor activities.

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CONCURRENT ACTIVITY
Activities which can be accomplished concurrently are known
as concurrent activities. It may be noted that an activity can
be a predecessor or a successor to an event or it may be
concurrent with one or more of other activities.

DUMMY ACTIVITY
An activity which does not consume any kind of resource but
merely depicts the technological dependence is called a
dummy activity.

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DUMMY ACTIVITY
The dummy activity is inserted in the network to clarify
the activity pattern in the following two situations:

 To make activities with common starting and finishing

points distinguishable
 To identify and maintain the proper precedence relationship
between activities that is not connected by events.

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MERGE, BURST, MERGE AND BURST EVENTS
Merge event - When more than one activity comes and joins an event
such an event is known as merge event.

Burst event - When more than one activity leaves an event such an event
is known as burst event.

Merge and Burst event - An activity may be merge and burst event at
the same time as with respect to some activities it can be a merge event
and with respect to some other activities it may be a burst event.

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EXAMPLE

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EXAMPLE

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JOB / WORKSITE ANALYSIS GUIDE
The job/worksite analysis guide identifies problems
within a particular area, department, or worksite. Before
collecting quantitative data, the analyst first walks through
the area and observes the worker, the task, the workplace,
and the surrounding working environment. In addition, the
analyst identifies any administrative factors that may affect
the worker ’s behavior or performance. All these factors
provide an overall perspective of the situation and help guide
the analyst in using other, more quantitative tools for
collecting and analyzing data.

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EXAMPLE
Job or Worksite Analysis Guide [Link]

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SPAGHETTI DIAGRAM
 Track path of person/product.
 Identify travel distances between key process steps.
 helps organizations see how their workers are
moving physically through the workspace
 part of a Lean Manufacturing method called Gemba,
in Japanese, Gemba means “the real place” or “the
place where value is created”

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EXAMPLE (CURRENT)

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EXAMPLE (REVISED)
Inspect

Storage

Weld

Warehouse

Mill Saw
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FMEA
 Begun in the 1940s by the U.S. military, failure mode and
effect analysis (FMEA) is a step-by-step approach for
identifying all possible failures in a design, a manufacturing
or assembly process, or a product or service.
 "Failure modes" means the ways, or modes, in which
something might fail. Failures are any errors or defects,
especially ones that affect the customer, and can be
potential or actual.
 "Effects analysis" refers to studying the consequences of
those failures.

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SPAGHETTI DIAGRAM
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CHECK SHEET
 used for recording data at the time and place of the
operation of interest
 designed for easy, quick, and effective recording of
the required data, which can be either qualitative
or quantitative
 Also called as “defect concentration diagram”

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EXAMPLE

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QUIZ TIME!

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