QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF INTRINSIC PRODUCTION PROCESSES IN ORNAMENTAL FISH SYSTEM USING FISH BONE (ISHIKAWA) DIAGRAM

Large scale Ornamental fish breeding and marketing companies are on an increase in India. Ultimate aim of such large scale units are production of high quality fish for the quality conscious, premium markets in the country and the world. Quality management of the processes inside the system has its real impact on the quality and quantity of the fish. The enhanced production of ornamental fish rely on the management practices including water quality, feed quality , biosecurity, disease diagnosing and quarantine, human interferences and so on. Total quality management consists of quality management tool and technique where the former is used as a single tool that has a specific role and latter one has a wider application.

To initialize quality system management in the ornamental fishery system, the first step is to recognize the varied ornamental fish systems. Fish bone diagram /Ishikawa diagram is a single total quality management tool used to identify all possible causes and sub causes inside a system that create changes to a specific effect. The ornamental fish farm entrepreneurs in Kerala are brainstormed for the entire processes flow of the system. The areas found with the most disparities are noted and a fish bone diagram is constructed Effect is denoted on the main bone and causes creating changes to the effect is denoted on the serrated bones.  These serrated bones are again bifurcated into smaller bones where sub causes are denoted. In this paper, the production area which is the core area of the ornamental fish breeding system is focused. The effect (Quality and Quantity of the ornamental fish) is directly affected by facility demarcation, biosecurity, water quality, sorting of fish, feed and workers. The sub causes noted are back up, conditioning, breeding, fry sections, roofing materials, labels, and separate accessories, characteristics of sorted fish, water quality management, and worker skill, feed type which triggers the main causes. Fish bone tool in the study shows that, the impact of the causes and sub causes gradually lowers from demarcation and biosecurity to feed unit and workers i.e. from head to tail.

The causes presented in fish bone diagram can be controlled using proper management practices so that the effect (quality and quantity of the ornamental fish) is enhanced resulting in the continuous improvement of the ornamental fish production system.

Key words: Ornamental fish system, Fish bone diagram, Production area.