3. When to Use 5 Why
Complaint from the Client
Observation from the Client
Recurring Errors
First Time Quality
Internal Quality Issue
Quality System Audit Non-conformances
4. 5 Why Analysis
A cross-functional team should be used to
solve the problem
Don’t jump to conclusions or assume the
answer is obvious
Don’t be bias
Be absolutely objective
5. General Guidelines
Ask “Why” until the root cause is
uncovered
It may be more or less than 5 Whys
If words like “because” or “due to” are
coming in the answer, move to the next
Why
If you don’t ask enough “Whys”, you may
end up with a “symptom” and not “root
cause”
6. General Guidelines (Contd…..)
Corrective action for a symptom is not
effective in eliminating the cause
– Corrective action for a symptom is usually
“detective”
– Corrective action for a root cause can be
“preventive”
8. Criticism of 5 Why:
We generally stop at symptoms rather
than going on to lower-level root causes
Lack of support to help the investigator
ask the right "why" questions
Getting right answer for the "why"
Different people using 5 Whys, come up
with different causes for the same problem
9. Criticism of 5 Why (Contd…..)
Tendency to isolate a single root cause,
whereas each question could elicit many
different root causes