5 whys root cause anal

Have you ever had a problem that refused to go away? No matter what you did, sooner or later it would return, perhaps in another form. Stubborn or recurrent problems are often symptoms of deeper issues. In this article and in the video, below, we look at the 5 Whys technique sometimes known as 5Y. This is a simple but powerful tool for cutting quickly through the outward symptoms of a problem to reveal its underlying causes, so that you can deal with it once and for all. Sakichi Toyoda, the Japanese industrialist, inventor, and founder of Toyota Industries, developed the 5 Whys technique in the s.

This is why the 5 whys method exists and is used to identify a cause-and-effect failure path as part of a larger root cause analysis. Since the 5 whys analysis is only a segment of root cause analysis RCA , it helps to first define what RCA typically entails and what it aims to achieve. For every defect or equipment failure that occurs, there is an obvious, visible problem that lets you know a defect or failure has occurred. There were likely many little things that contributed to the failure.

The root cause analysis aims to dig deep into a particular problem to identify the primary cause behind it. One of the most significant challenges that face us when trying to solve a problem is that what we perceive as the problem is not a cause, it is an outcome effect of one or more root problems. As a result, the solutions we generate will walk in a wrong direction and will not help to solve the issue at hand.

Unpredicted problems may occur in any team or process. However, problems are just symptoms of deeper issues. This is why your team needs to focus on finding the root cause and tackle it properly. The 5 Whys technique is one of the most effective tools for root cause analysis in the Lean management arsenal. Every team faces roadblocks in its daily work.