A practical approach on how to use root cause analysis tools involving shop floor workers

1. Bringing the root cause
analysis into the shop
floor
By Matteo Bologna
12 Apr. 2014
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2. Contents
• Collaboration is essential
• What does it mean bringing the root cause analysis into
the shop floor?
• Which problems can we manage this way?
• What are the advantages of such an approach?
• Which tools can be used?
• How can we do that?
2

3. Collaboration is essential
Often workers find difficult to understand the work of quality
professionals and the tools they use to analyze quality problems
(for example customer claims); this could create
misunderstanding and eventually lead to poor collaboration in
implementing effective corrective actions
3

4. What does it mean bringing the root
cause analysis into the shop floor?
It means :
• Use workers’ expertise to make root cause analysis and define
corrective actions of problems
• Act rapidly on a problem having all actors involved from the
beginning and working directly on the spot
• Create awareness between blue collars of the tools used by
Quality Dept. to solve problems
4

5. The problems for which is useful bringing the analysis right in the
department are :
• To the problems linked to production processes
• To the analysis of customer claims / complaints
5
Which problems can we manage this way?
Use expertise of workers where it yields the most : acting on
problems of processes and products on which they work every day

6. What are the advantages of such an
approach?
Fast solution finding and actions implementation :
all people involved in problem analysis and action plan definition
are gathered where the corrective action will be implemented
Really effective corrective actions :
workers will have the chance to contribute to analysis and to
directly use their knowledge of products and processes to find a
solution
More engagement from people :
all workers (not only the ones directly involved in such activity)
will get awareness that they are active actors in the quality
improvement of the company
6

7. Which tools can be used?
• There are lot of tools which can be used to make a root cause
analysis (5 Why’s ; Fishbone diagram ; brainstorming/affinity
diagram) but take into account two important things :
 This tool is aimed at defining action plans for problems in
«less than a hour» meeting in the shop floor
 The foremen/workers involved might not have a deep
knowledge about quality tools
Keep things simple, don’t use tools and methods that the
team cannot manage
7

8. 8
Next slides show all the steps needed to apply this approach :
1) Data gathering
2) Define the team
3) Set-up the area
4) Start the analysis
5) Discuss the results of the analysis
6) Define the action plan
7) Verify effectiveness of corrective action
How can we do that?
Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis Discuss the
results of
the
analysis Define the
action plan Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action

9. Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis
Discuss the
results of
the
analysis
Define the
action plan
Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action
How can we do that?
Bring all useful information to the team, this will avoid wasting time during
the analysis :
 Use pictures / drawings to clearly define the problem
 Bring objective data for the analysis
 Avoid assumptions
9

10. How can we do that?
Be sure that all needed people / departments are present : this will avoid
later arguing about problem analysis and corrective action implementation
Make a short preliminary analysis in order to define in which department the
meeting should take place ; for example if we are going to analyze a
customer claim for missing goods the meeting should take place inside the
dispatching warehouse.
10
Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis
Discuss the
results of
the
analysis
Define the
action plan
Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action

11. Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis
Discuss the
results of
the
analysis
Define the
action plan
Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action
How can we do that?
Prepare the area where the analysis will take place : choose an area in the
involved department as close as possible to the working stations
Be sure to have something where you can show the data gathered, draw
some sketches , notes and so on… (a magnetic blackboard might help)
11

12. Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis
Discuss the
results of
the
analysis
Define the
action plan
Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action
12
A portable magnetic
sheet is used as a
blackboard
In this case an
Ishikawa diagram has
been drawn
All relevant info have
been posted :
Description of the
problem
Picture of the broken
component
How can we do that?

13. How can we do that?
Once the area has been set-up and all the relevant information are available
gather the team and start the analysis :
1) make a brief introduction to the problem (use drawings/pictures to
describe the problem)
2) analyze the situation on the field (look at the component/product affected
in case of a customer claim or the machinery/process in case of production
problem)
3) list the possible causes of the problem («fill-in» the fishbone diagram for
example or write down the answer to the 5 Why’s)
13
Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis
Discuss the
results of
the
analysis
Define the
action plan
Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action

14. Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis
Discuss the
results of
the
analysis
Define the
action plan
Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action
How can we do that?
Once the analysis is done the team should have a pretty clear idea about the
cause/s of the problem : summarize all things discussed and make sure that
the team has reached common vision of the problem and its cause/s
14

15. Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis
Discuss the
results of
the
analysis
Define the
action plan
Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action
15
During the analisys the
team fill-in the
diagram
How can we do that?

16. How can we do that?
This is the step where all the work done so far take shape; all the time spent
in the analysis of the problem would be wasted if you don’t define a clear
action plan to put in place an effective corrective action
The action plan must contain :
- Clear description of the actions to be done
- Person responsible of each action
- Date for action completion
- Reference to other documents (for example to a registered customer
claim)
Send the action plan to all people involved and print out a copy to post on
directly into the department
16
Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis
Discuss the
results of
the
analysis
Define the
action plan
Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action

17. Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis
Discuss the
results of
the
analysis
Define the
action plan
Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action
17
How can we do that?
Date
Planned
completion
date
Effective
completion
date
Engineering
(xxxxx)
15/05/2014
Implement 100% check
with specific gage after
operation # xxxxx
04/05/2014
Revise actual acceptance quality check procedure
Modify Assembly Operative instruction
ResponsibilityActivity Note
Q. Dept.
(Bologna)
10/05/2014
Add specific test of load
resistance on document #
xxxxx
Reference
People / Dept. Involved
Claim ID 16/2014
Q. Dept. : Bologna M.
Engineering : xxxxxxx
Assembly Dept. : xxxxxxx

18. 18
How can we do that?
This step in essential in understanding if the activities done got the wanted
results :
- No more defective outputs (products) in case of production issues
- No more complaints from customer if we applied this approach to
customer claim
Data
gathering
Define the
team
Set-up the
area
Start the
analysis
Discuss the
results of
the
analysis
Define the
action plan
Verify
effectiv. of
corrective
action