Proceedings of the

International Conference on Mechanical Engineering 2009

(ICME2009) 26- 28 December 2009, Dhaka, Bangladesh

ICME09-RT-23
DEFECTS IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF A
PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCT USING PARETO AND
CAUSE-EFFECT ANALYSIS
S. K. Paul and Abdullahil Azeem
Department of Industrial and Production Engineering,
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT
Pareto and cause-effect analysis are two major tools to address quality issues. This paper focuses on the
process of identifying and analyzing the defects of a pharmaceutical product using these tools. Pareto
analysis is used to find out the major problems of the defective products and cause- effect analysis is
considered to find out the main causes and sub causes behind that problems. To eliminate the causes and sub
causes which are responsible to make defective products, it is very important to identify causes, sub causes
and their exact location in the system. In this paper the main problems, causes, sub causes and exact
location of causes and sub causes are identified using pareto and cause-effect analysis. Capping,
edge-chipping and broken tablets have been found as the vital problems for producing defective products.
Few root causes are identified though cause-effect analysis which are responsible for the mentioned
problems.
Keywords: Defect Identification, Quality Improvement, Pareto Analysis, Cause-Effect Analysis.
1. INTRODUCTION
Pareto chart is a simple statistical chart, also known as
Pareto diagram. It is useful for quality control. In the
early nineteenth century, the famous Italian Economist
Vilfredo Pareto developed this. Now a days, it is widely
used in quality management to identify the vital few and
trivial many. It looks like a cumulative bar chart. The
lengths of the bars represent frequency or cost and
arranged with the longest bars on the left and the shortest
bar to right. The longest bar represents the vital few.
Pareto analysis is a statistical technique in decision
making that is used for selection of a limited number of
tasks that produce significant overall effect. It uses the
Pareto principle - the idea that a large majority of
problems (80%) are produced by a few key causes
(20%).Pareto analysis is a formal technique useful where
many possible courses of action are competing for your
attention. In essence, the problem-solver estimates the
benefit delivered by each action, then selects a number of
the most effective actions that deliver a total benefit
reasonably close to the maximal possible one.This is
graphical tool for ranking problems from most
significant to least significant. It depicts a series of
vertical bars lined up in a descending order- from high to
low- to reflect frequency, impertinent, or priority.
There must be many potential reasons, or causes
which ultimately lead to create an adverse effect. Here,
the effect is the quality problem. Cause Effect (CE)
analysis is a tool for analyzing and illustrating a process
by showing the main causes and sub-causes leading to an
effect (symptom). It is sometimes referred to as the
Ishikawa Diagram, because Kauro Ishikawa developed
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it, and the Fishbone Diagram, because the complete

diagram resembles a fish skeleton. The fishbone diagram
is easy to construct and invites interactive participation.
A cause-effect analysis generates and sorts hypotheses
about possible causes of problems within a process by
asking participants to list all of the possible causes and
effects for the identified problem. This analysis tool
organizes a large amount of information by showing
links between events and their potential or actual causes
and provides a means of generating ideas about why the
problem is occurring and possible effects of that cause.
Cause-effect analyses allow problem solvers to broaden
their thinking and look at the overall picture of a problem.
Cause-and-effect diagrams can reflect either causes that
block the way to the desired state or helpful factors
needed to reach the desired state. It is a graphic
presentation, with major branches reflecting categories
of causes, a cause-and-effect analysis stimulates and
broadens thinking about potential or real causes and
facilitates further examination of individual causes.
Because everyones ideas can find a place on the diagram,
a cause-and-effect analysis helps to generate consensus
about causes. It can help to focus attention on the process
where a problem is occurring and to allow for
constructive use of facts revealed by reported events.
However, it is important to remember that a
cause-and-effect diagram is a structured way of
expressing hypotheses about the causes of a problem or
about why something is not happening as desired. It
cannot replace empirical testing of these hypotheses: it
does not tell which the root cause, but rather what the
possible causes are.
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used to find out the vital problem occurring in processing

& compression, coating and blistering of products. Cause
effect diagram is developed for the vital problem
occurring in processing & compression, coating and
blistering. Process type cause effect diagram is also
developed to find out exact location of the problem. Data
are taken after completing the production in processing
& compression, coating and blistering.

Major two types of cause effect diagram include and

Process Analysis. Cause Enumeration is the most
commonly used CE diagrams in industries. This
indicates one by one all possible caused from
brainstorming sessions and then classifies into groups.
Specialists from concerned departments like engineering
and design, procurement, quality assurance, maintenance,
production etc. from the group. Participants in
brainstorming session are encouraged to think freely and
suggest from experience, judgment, anticipation etc. This
method has the advantage that the list of possible causes
will be more comprehensive because the process has a
more free-form nature. The disadvantage is that it is more
difficult to draw the diagram from this list rather than
from scratch. This method of drawing a CE Diagram can
be used in conjunction with brainstorming by using it to
distil the brainstorm output down into a logical and
useable set of information. A simple cause enumeration
may not identify exact location of occurrence in
complete process. A process analysis type CE diagram
can do that. Its structure is totally different form the
earlier type of CE analysis. It follows the process step by
step and causes are listed as per process step. This, prior
to developing a CE diagram, process flow chart is a must.
Additionally, participation of the process owners is also
must in the brainstorming session. The main advantage
of creating this type CE diagram is its ability in
pinpointing the exact location of occurrence. Both types
of CE diagram can be used to determining cause. Both
types of CE diagram can be used to determining causes.
Finding out a cause and pinpointing its location may
require both CE diagrams at a time.
Sanders [1] discussed the relevance of the rule of
80/20 and developed from the Pareto principle.
Karuppusami and Gandhinathan [2] used Pareto analysis
to identify and propose a list of few vital critical success
factors (CSFs) of total quality management (TQM) for
the benefit of researchers and industries. Jiang and
Gainer [3] reported cases of robot accidents involving
fatality, injury and non-injury were gathered from several
sources (U.S., West Germany, Sweden and Japan) using
cause- effect analysis. A method for cause- effect
analysis of chemical processing systems has been
developed on the concept of a signed directed graph by
Umeda et. al. [4]. Sambasivan and Soon [5] used causeeffect analysis to identify the delay factors and their
impact (effect) on project completion Malaysian
construction industry. Gill [6] used Effect-cause-effect
(ECE) methodology of theory of constraints (TOC) to
examine the assumptions behind successfully managing
business projects. Emery [7] developed a
cause-effect-cause model to identify prerequisites for
sustaining effective cross-functional integration as well
as their temporal inter-relationships. The performance of
milling and boring operation on Gear Housing in CNC
Milling Machine (DC-45), in terms of positional error
and accuracy of the job, and a wide variation of the job in
terms of quality improvement have been investigated by
Dipak et. al. [8] using Pareto and cause-effect analysis.
In this paper, Pareto analysis is used to identify the main
problems and Cause- effect analysis is used to find out
the causes behind the main problem. Pareto analysis is
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2. METHODOLOGY
The processing & compression, coating and blistering
sections have been taken for analyzing the defects of the
product. During processing ingredients are mixed
homogeneously and during compression the shape of the
product is formed using compression machine. After
completing the compression, products are sent to coating
section to give a thin coating layer on products. In
blistering products are filled into packets. In these
sections, lots of defective products are produced. Data
has been taken from these sections to identify and
analyze the quality of the product. For Pareto analysis,
samples of products are taken in consecutive ten batches
and numbers of defective products from each batch are
identified and defectives products are separated
according to the types of problems. Then major problems
are identified considering the percentage of defective.
The causes and sub causes behind the main problem have
been analyzed using cause-effect analysis.
3. PARETO AND CAUSE EFFECT ANALYSIS IN
PROCESSING & COMPRESSION
Processing and compression are important steps to
produce the pharmaceutical products. But lots of
defective products are produced here. So, these two steps
are taken for analyzing. Data are taken after completing
the processing and compression of the product.
3.1 Pareto analysis
Data have been taken for the product after completing
the Processing and Compression. Samples of products
are taken in consecutive ten batches and numbers of
defective products from each batch are identified and
defectives products are separated according to the types
of problems. The data for the product after processing
and compression are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Data for Pareto analysis (processing and
compression)
Problems
Capping
Weight variation
Mottling
Chipping
Friability problem
Thickness variation
Lamination
Others
Sticking

Frequency
173
51
46
22
18
12
6
5
2

Percent Cumulative
defect
percent
(%)
defect (%)
51.64
51.64
15.22
66.87
13.73
80.6
6.57
87.16
5.37
92.54
3.58
96.12
1.79
97.91
1.49
99.41
.59
100

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40

40

20

20

Ot
he
rs

pp
ing

ilit

Ch
i

ot
tli
M

ar
iat

Fr
iab

W
e ig

ht
v

Cumulative percentage

60

St
ic k
ing

60

yp
Th
ro
ble
ic k
m
ne
ss
va
ria
t io
n
La
mi
na
tio
n

80

ng

80

ion

100

Ca
pp
ing

Percentage of defective

100

Types of Problems

Fig 1. Pareto chart for processing and compression

Then all the causes have been allocated and placed under
the appropriate major cause category. The root causes
have been identified and these root causes should be
amenable to action. After identifying the main problem, a
cause- effect (CE) diagram is developed to find out
causes and sub causes for the Capping. The causeeffect diagram is shown in Fig. 2. The main causes
behind the capping are machine speed, wear and tear of
die and punch, mixing, over drying and percentage of
powder which are shown in Fig. 2.

After identifying the different types of problems and

corresponding number of defectives a Pareto chart is
drawn to identify the main problems which is shown in
Fig. 1. From the Pareto diagram, the major problems are
identified which are Capping, Weight variation and
Mottling. These problems are responsible for 80.6 % of
total defectives. Among these problems, capping is
responsible for 51.64% of total defectives which is
highest among all the problems. So, cause- effect
analysis is performed only for Capping.
3.2 Cause- Effect analysis
This technique is used for identifying the causes
associated with this particular problem. The causes have
been identified through brainstorming and then
establishing different cause categories like man, machine,
method, measurement, material and environment.

Method

4. PARETO AND CAUSE EFFECT ANALYSIS IN

COATING
Coating, after processing and compression, is also an
important step to produce the pharmaceutical products.
But lots of defective products are produced here. Data are
taken after completing coating of products.

Man

Machine

Mixing
Validation

Machine
speed

Skill

Wear & tear

of die, punch

Over
drying

Machine
setup

Inexperience

Lack of
Lubrication training
Capping

Weighing

Measurement

Percentage of
powder
Composition
Material

Temperature
Relative
humidity
Environment

Fig 2. Cause-Effect Diagram of capping problem in processing and compression

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80

80

60

60

40

40

20

20

Cumulative percentage

100

Percentage of defective

100

ge
Ed

ot
Sp

ng
pi
p
Ca

ng
pi
p
i
ch

s
er
th
O

Types of Problems

Fig 3. Pareto chart for coating

4.1 Pareto analysis

Data have been collected for the product after
completing the coating. Samples of products are taken in
consecutive ten batches and numbers of defective
products from each batch are identified and defectives
products are separated according to the types of problems.
The data for the product after coating are shown in Table
2.

After identifying the different types of problems and

corresponding number of defectives a Pareto chart is
developed to identify the main problems for coating
which is shown in Fig. 3.
From the Pareto diagram, the main problem in coating
is identified due to Edge chipping. This problem is
responsible for 63.22 % of total defectives. So, causeeffect analysis is performed only for Edge chipping.
4.2 Cause- Effect analysis
After identifying the main problem, a cause-effect
(CE) diagram is developed to find out causes and sub
causes for edge chipping problem. The cause- effect
diagram is shown in Fig. 4. The main causes behind the
edge chipping are low solid content in solution,
improper drying, low spray rate, high pan speed, low
mechanical strength of coating and coating material
which are shown in Fig. 4.

Table 2: Data for Pareto analysis (coating)

Problems

Frequency

Edge chipping
Capping
Spot
Others

165
56
32
8

Percent Cumulative
defect
percent
(%)
defect (%)
63.22
63.22
21.46
84.67
12.26
96.93
3.07
100

Method
Improper
drying

Machine
Low spray
rate
Compression

Low solid content

in solution

Sharp
edge

Weighing

Measurement

Machine
setup

Man
Skill

High pan
speed
Lubrication

Inexperience

Lack of
training
Edge
chipping

Low mechanical
strength
Composition
Material

Temperature
Relative
humidity
Environment

Fig 4. Cause-effect diagram of edge chipping problem in coating

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100.00

80.00

80.00

60.00

60.00

40.00

40.00

20.00

20.00

0.00

0.00

en
ok
r
B

ts
le
b
Ta

p
ot
p
S

em
bl
ro
k
an
Bl

in

ri
st

Cumulative percentage

Percentage of defective

100.00

s
er
th
O

ps

Types of Problems

Fig 5. Pareto chart for blistering

5. PARETO AND CAUSE EFFECT ANALYSIS IN
BLISTERING
Blistering, after coating, is the last step to produce the
pharmaceutical products. But lot of defective products is
produced here. Data are taken after completing blistering
of the product.

Table 3: Data for Pareto analysis (blistering)

5.1 Pareto analysis

Data has been collected for the product after
completing the blistering of products. Samples of
products are taken in consecutive ten batches and
numbers of defective products from each batch are
identified and defectives products are separated
according to the types of problems. The data for the
product after blistering are shown in Table 3.
From the Pareto diagram (Fig 5), the main problem is
identified due to Broken Tablets. This problem is
responsible for 50% of total defectives. So, cause- effect
analysis is performed only for Broken Tablets.
Method
Hand
filling

Problems

Frequency

Broken Tablets
Spot problem
Blank in strips
Others

74
43
19
12

Percent Cumulative
percent
defect
defect (%)
(%)
50.00
50.00
29.05
79.05
12.84
91.89
8.11
100

5.2 Cause- Effect analysis

After identifying the main problem, a cause- effect
(CE) diagram is developed to find out causes and sub
causes for Broken Tablets problem. The main causes
behind the Broken Tablets are processing,
compression, sorting, skill and vibration during auto
filling which are shown in Fig. 6.
Man

Compression

Lack of
Skill

Unconsciousness

Sorting

Processing

Broken
tablets
Machine
set up
Sealing

Temperature
Vibration
Relative
humidity
Environment

Machine

Fig 6. Cause-effect diagram of broken tablets problem in blistering

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Dispensing

Processing

Weighing

Mixing

Environment

Drying

Human
Error

Environment
Human
Error
Machine
Speed

Compression

Coating
Composition
of solution
Low
Hardness

Improper
feeding
Environment
Pressure
variation
Set up
error
Sampling
Error
Human
Error

Machine
Speed

Spray
rate
Inlet
temperature
Environment

Blistering
Temperature
and pressure
Sorting
Sealing
Filling
Foil
Human
Error

Human
Error
Fig 7. Process flow cause and effect diagram for product defects

Finally, a process flow cause- effect analysis is drawn

for the total process to identify exact location of
occurrence in complete process. In the manufacturing of
the pharmaceutical products, the process is started from
the dispensing and completed after packaging. The
intermediate stages are processing, compression, coating
and blistering. The process flow cause- effect diagram is
developed to identify the causes, sub causes and exact
location of causes for the defects in tablets. As defects in
product may occur any where in the total process, so it is
very necessary to identify and eliminate the causes which
are responsible for defects in the product. The process
flow cause- effect diagram is shown in Fig. 7.

7. REFERENCES
1.

2.

3.

4.

6. CONCLUSIONS
Elimination of defects and maintaining the quality of
the pharmaceutical products are very important as it
deals with the human life. Pareto and cause effect
analysis are two important industrial engineering tools
which involve solving the quality problems. In this paper,
Pareto and cause effect analysis are used to solve the
quality problems for one pharmaceutical product. Causes
and location of the causes are identified with the help of
these analyses. Then some corrective actions are taken to
eliminate causes which ultimately lead to create an
adverse effect. Quality of the product is improved
through eliminating the causes behind defects. These
analyses can be used for other products where quality is
one of the important considerations. Some others tools
like control chart, check sheet, stratification analysis,
scatter diagram etc. can be also used to analyze and solve
the quality problem of the pharmaceutical product.

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5.

6.

7.

8.

Sanders, R., 1992, The Pareto Principle: its Use and

Abuse, Journal of Product & Brand Management,
1(2): 37-40.
Karuppusami, G. and Gandhinathan, R., 2006,
Pareto analysis of critical success factors of total
quality management: A literature review and
analysis, The TQM Magazine,18(4).
Jiang, B. C. and Gainer, C. A. Jr., 1987, A
cause-and-effect analysis of robot accidents,
Journal of Occupational Accidents, 9: 27-45.
Umeda, T., Kuriyama, T., O'Shima, E. and
Matsuyama, H., 1980, A graphical approach to
cause and effect analysis of chemical processing
systems, Chemical Engineering Science, 35(12):
2379-2388.
Sambasivan, M., and Soon Y. W., 2007, Causes and
effects of delays in Malaysian construction industry,
International Journal of Project Management, 25(5):
517-526.
Gill, A., 2008, An effect-cause-effect analysis of
project objectives and trade-off assumptions,
International Journal of Managing Projects in
Business , 1(4): 535-551.
Emery, C. R., 2009, A cause-effect-cause model for
sustaining cross-functional integration, Business
Process Management Journal, 15(1): 93-108.
Dipak, R. J., Anjani, K. and Amaresh, K., 2008,
Positional Accuracy Improvement through Pareto
and Cause and Effect Analysis in CNC Machine
Tools, Engineering: Indu, 4(4): 213-225.

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