Fishbone diagram template: free, with the 6Ms, and an AI agent that finds the causes that keep coming back
A cause-and-effect (Ishikawa) diagram template with its six boxes: people, method, material, machine, measurement and environment. Fill it in at the whiteboard or on paper; with one photo your AI agent reads every cause with its category and tells you which ones show up again and again across your diagrams.
How to fill it in.
1 · Write the effect
In the fish's head, the specific problem: what, where and how much. «Short shots on housing 4471-B, 3.2% scrap».
2 · Fill in the 6Ms
Each possible cause in its box. Tick the box next to the ones the team thinks are most likely.
3 · Verify and snap it
Below, how you'll verify the likely ones and who. Photo, review, and it goes into your plant memory.
What goes in each box of the diagram.
| Category | Example causes |
|---|---|
| People | Training, new operator, shift, fatigue |
| Method | Unclear instruction, sequence, settings |
| Material | Lot, supplier, moisture, regrind ratio |
| Machine | Wear, heater band, tooling, maintenance |
| Measurement | Calibration, gauge, inspection frequency |
| Environment | Temperature, humidity, dust, lighting |
A fishbone is done standing up, in front of the problem.
The fishbone works as a group exercise, with a marker, on the floor. What gets lost is what comes after: nobody compares this month's diagram with the one from six months ago. That's what the agent does.
Repeat causes
«Resin moisture» appears in five diagrams from three different lines: that's not a coincidence.
By category
How many causes fall under method vs. machine: where the plant's real problem is.
Verified or not
Which likely causes were actually confirmed and which never left the whiteboard.
What it does with your sheets.
Reads every cause
Every written line, with the category of its box and whether it was ticked as likely.
Finds patterns
Causes that repeat across diagrams, even when they're worded differently.
Answers
«Which machine causes came up this quarter?» With the list of diagrams each one comes from.
What people usually ask.
Are Ishikawa, fishbone and cause-and-effect the same?
Yes: three names for the same diagram. The 6Ms are the most common way to group causes in manufacturing.
What if we use 4Ms or 8Ms?
Snap it anyway. The agent reads the category exactly as written in your box.
Can I photograph a whiteboard?
Yes, if it's legible. For a clean, comparable record, copy it onto this sheet after the meeting.
What comes after the fishbone?
The most likely causes get verified; to get to the root of the confirmed one, use the 5 whys.
More free lean templates your AI agent can read.
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