Lately heard on the gemba:
"We are excellent problem solvers, yet the very same problems keep returning.".
When the countermeasures are off target, the issues persist. If problems repeat for the exact same root cause, we have not in fact resolved the problem. We have just temporarily had it. Also if the exact same trouble repeats due to a different source, it is feasible that problem fixing was done without a complete enough source evaluation action. Problem solving has not successfully took place up until we can verify that the origin have actually been identified and that the countermeasures applied to them are effective.
Taiichi Ohno created in Toyota Production System:.
When an issue happens, if the origin analysis is insufficient, the emphasis of countermeasures can be off. That is why we ask 'why?' five times. This is the foundation of the scientific mindset of the Toyota air conditioner.
In the Toyota means of functioning called TBP (Toyota Business Method) there are 8 actions. These are synonymous with useful trouble solving and also are mapped against the PDCA cycle.
Make clear the problem.
by offering background specific, context, past history and also visiting. Create a concise as well as straightforward issue declaration. Gain consensus on the trouble statement.
Break down the issue.
by deconstructing intricate troubles into their part issues or motifs, tightening the extent or determining any out-of-bounds or unaddressable areas.
Establish a target.
that will be achieved based upon the above option of the clear and broken down problem declaration.
Analyze the root causes.
by going to see, employing a selection of means such as Pareto analysis, Ishikawa representations and 5 why analysis, to get to workable areas.
Develop countermeasures.
to these source areas, with the emphasis on numerous countermeasures that can be set up as experiments, instead of trying to find one total remedy.
See countermeasures via.
to their successful or unsuccessful outcome, trying over and over without losing hope until the target is gotten to.
Examine both outcomes as well as procedure.
in order to find out whether the plan was adhered to or whether short cuts were taken, whether results were accomplished by luck or random variation or real successful countermeasures, as well as methodically check out failed experiments or incorrect assumptions subjected while seeing countermeasures via.
Standardize successful techniques.
and also gain from failures, share and set views on the following targets by going back to tip 1, the beginning of the PCDA pattern.
Given, this process takes a lot longer compared to promptly specifying the trouble and jumping to a solution. Often that is needed in order to temporarily have a trouble. But it is not real trouble fixing, as in the application of origin countermeasures. When the source are found as well as countermeasures are dutifully used, the issues continue to be "addressed" or at least non-recurring for the exact same source.
The prominent A3 thinking or A3 trouble addressing is nothing greater than the process of developing and also recording this collaboratively, one one page of paper, typically A3-sized. Becoming terrific at issue solving is not an inquiry of speed, shine or heroic initiative, it is a commitment to the tested PDCA process as well as technique, technique, practice ...