17 Sep Root Cause Analysis: Powerful Problem Solver
by Wayne Forster November 2020
Every business or organization has problems. In fact, managers spend most of their time trying to solve problems. But not always very successfully. All too often, despite their best intentions and efforts, the problem persists. At times, the actions taken even make the problem worse.
Our ineffectiveness as problem solvers is often because we look at only the “symptoms” of the problem, not it’s root cause. We take action that removes or mitigates the symptoms, but the problem keeps reoccurring. It’s like constantly topping up the oil in our car without repairing the leak in the oil pan. The oil will keep leaking out.
It’s understandable why we focus on symptoms. They are the most obvious and observable manifestations of the problem. They are the most immediate things we need to deal with. And we’re under pressure from others – customers, staff, owners, other managers – to do something to address the issue. If someone gets injured in the workplace, we must immediately provide first-aid. We don’t have time at the moment to think about why they got injured in the first place. However, if we don’t address the cause of the injury at some point, employees may continue to be injured.
Root Cause Analysis is a problem solving technique used in Lean Management that can help businesses and organizations get to the real cause of a problem instead of just dealing with the symptoms.
The technique is relatively simple. Once the problem has been identified and defined, we successively ask the question “Why?” (at least five times). We know we’ve arrived at the root cause when there are no further questions we can ask, and resolving the issue would prevent the problem from reoccurring.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say the problem identified is that a customer returned a product for a refund. We now begin the process of asking “why” successively until we have a root cause.
Q. Why did the customer return the product for a refund? A. Because the product was defective.
Q. Why was the product defective? A. Because there was a damaged belt in the machine that made the product.
Q. Why was there a damaged belt in the machine that made the product? A. Because the damaged belt had not been replaced.
Q. Why had the damaged belt not been replaced? A. Because nobody noticed that it was damaged.
Q. Why didn’t anyone notice that the belt was damaged? A. Because there’s no regular maintenance check on the machinery in the plant.
Q. Why is there no regular maintenance check on the machinery? A. Don’t know.
We’ve now reached the root cause of the problem – the lack of regular maintenance checks on the machinery. How do we know? Because if there would have been regular maintenance checks, the damaged belt would have been identified and replaced, the product would not have been defective, and the customer would not have returned the product.
Now we know how to solve the problem – implement a Preventative Maintenance Program in the plant.
Of course, not every Root Cause Analysis exercise is as straightforward as my example above may appear to be. Some problems are very complex, and may actually have more than one root cause. But the process is still the same – keep asking “why” until you uncover a factor that, if removed, prevents the problem from recurring.
A few important things to keep in mind when doing Root Cause Analysis:
1) Distinguish between a problem and a symptom of the problem. A problem is anything that negatively impacts on the businesses/organizations ability to achieve its goals.
2) Be sure you have clearly defined the problem. This may take some time, but it is essential. If you have not clearly defined the problem, you’re not going to be able to solve it.
3) Some factors may affect an outcome, but they are not the root cause. Removing those factors may benefit an outcome, but they won’t stop the problem from recurring. For instance, in my example above giving the customer a refund may benefit the situation, but it does not solve the underlying problem.
4) There are no pre-set questions that need to be asked. Each situation will dictate which questions are required. As well, while we suggest asking at least 5 “why” questions, sometimes you may need to ask a few more to get to the root cause.
Root Cause Analysis is an excellent problem-solving tool. But it often takes time and patience, something that can be in short supply in today’s “I want it now” world. However, if you devote the time and patience required, and learn how to use the tool effectively, I guarantee the results will be well worth the effort.