Become more productive and effective at producing solutions your customer will like.

1. Getting to the Root Cause
Scott Munger
859/240-1653
ScottMunger@fuse.net
The Aim of “Getting to the Root Cause” is to:
a. Increase productivity and effectiveness of solutions.
b. Gain consistency in application and response.
c. Improve customer communication and satisfaction.

2. Why the Root Cause?
Time, material, manpower,
reputation, and money are lost with
repeated issues.
Contributors impacting the process;
– Communications (Clear)
– Technical Skill (Toolbox)
– Company Culture (Supportive)

3. Standard Complaint Process
Customer
Cust. Service Rep. or Sales
Investigator
Cust. Service Rep. or Sales
Customer

4. What are 8-D’s & 5-Why’s?
(Fundamentals to good problem solving)
Both the 8-D (Eight Disciplines) and 5-Why’s are
methodologies for structured problem solving.
8-D was developed by Ford in the mid 80’s.
5-Why was made popular in the 70’s by the introduction of
the Toyota Production System .
8-D’s and 5-Why’s are normally prepared in these
instances;
1. To document the resolution of a problem.
2. To communicate resolution status to the customer.
Most suppliers use one or the other formats across all other
products and customer groups.

5. 8-D Process Flow
(5-Why Tool to be used)
Define and Verify Root Causes – D4

6. What is the 5 Why Process?
The 5 Why process is simply a problem-solving technique to
help in getting to the root of the problem quickly.
Key Benefit: It’s easy to learn and apply.
The 5 Why strategy involves looking at any problem and
asking: “Why?” to “What caused this problem?”
The answer to the first “why” will prompt another “why”,
and the answer to the second “why” will prompt another
and so on; hence the name 5 Why.
Each “Why” should be clearly linked to each other.
Solutions come from the 4th, 5th, or even 6th why.
How do you ask “Why”

7. Corporate Death Spiral
Can you relate to this?

8. Expectations!
In order to get the desired results in
the shortest amount of time there
must be clear expectations.