Dig Deeper Using the Five Why's
Daniel Stanton
Mr. Supply Chain? | Supply Chain and Project Management | Over 3 Million Online Learners 丹尼尔·斯坦顿
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple... and probably wrong. For those of us leading supply chain projects - where short-term decisions can have long-term, cascading impacts - this is an important lesson to learn.
I'm reminded of a supply chain manager I knew who went on a Gemba walk through the receiving area of his factory. The product that they were making had steady demand, and required only three inputs... we'll call them Components A, B, and C.
Sure enough, in this Lean factory there were areas neatly taped off on the floor for each of the three components. There was a big pile of inventory in the section for Component A. There was a similar pile of Component B. But the section for Component C was spotless, and completely empty.
Knowing that inventory is the enemy, the supply chain manager immediately called his team together to find out why there was so much waste in their supply chain. Was the forecast for A and B too high, causing them to over-order? Were the lot sizes too large? Were the suppliers shipping early to advance their payments? Why was it that only Component C was actually being managed in a Lean way, and minimizing their inventory and waste?
The answer? The forecast was perfect. The lot sizes were correct. And the suppliers for A and B were shipping on schedule. But the supplier for Component C had failed to deliver their products on time, and that caused a blockage for everything else in the supply chain.
The important lesson for this supply chain manager was that you need to understand what is causing a problem before you can really fix it. One approach to doing this kind of Root Cause Analysis is a technique called the Five Why's. Here's a quick video with an example of how it works from my LinkedIn Learning Course, "Project Management Foundations: Leading Projects".
The Five Why's lets you challenge your team to think about a problem differently, and to drill down to the root cause. As a leader, helping your team fully understand the problem that you are trying to solve is a critical step in Defining the Vision for your project.
#LinkedInLearning #ProjectManagement #SupplyChainManagement
Audit Associate at Auditech & Associates, Inc.
7 年Great tool, applicable across all industries!
Brian Leonard
Retired Supply Chain Professional
7 年One of my favorite root cause tools. Thanks for sharing!
Mr. Supply Chain? | Supply Chain and Project Management | Over 3 Million Online Learners 丹尼尔·斯坦顿
7 年Absolutely, Nemiah E. Bryant! Kudos to your team for using it.
Director of Enterprise Risk Management at Allegacy Federal Credit Union
7 年Root cause analysis/Five Why's is one of the main tools used to identify and mitigate risks in an organization. We use this as a basis risk discussion and mitigation in our ERM program.