ERADICATING DEFECTS: HOW ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS WILL INCREASE OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE:

Companies work hard to build a lean culture. The never-ending march toward the ideal of perfection through the motto of continuous improvement requires constant vigilance. Part of the process means solving problems when they arise.

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) defines Root Cause Analysis, or RCA, as a term that describes a range of approaches, tools, and techniques used to uncover the causes of problems or the root.

A "root cause" is a factor that causes a nonconformance, resulting in processes or results that fall outside predefined expectations.

Companies look to RCA to pinpoint the root cause and then work to eliminate it through process improvement. RCA can be used in a general problem-solving capacity or as a tool to precisely identify the root cause of a problem.

This article will define the uses for RCA, give some examples of RCA in practice, and go over some of the different tools and methods manufacturers can use to solve problems in real-time.

The Importance of Identifying Defects:

Problems are, well, problematic. But for manufacturers, problems in processing can lead to defective products. And defective products cause problems for both the manufacturers in the form of lost revenue, lowered productivity, and risk of injury to workers, but also to consumers.

When defective products go unnoticed and are allowed to reach consumers, manufacturers can be held liable for potential illness or injury caused by those products.

Protecting Consumers:

In 2022, more than 1.5 billion units of products from various manufacturing industries were recalled, including food, drugs, medical devices, automobiles, and other consumer goods. Defective products reaching consumers can cause injury, illness, or even death.

Protecting the Organization:

A failure to address problems within a manufacturing facility can lead to a waterfall of negative consequences. It starts with the product itself. A faulty process or poorly maintained machinery can lead to defective output. And the longer that problem is allowed to continue, the more money organizations lose.

Benefits of Root Cause Analysis:

Besides the importance of problem-solving to protect consumers and the organizations themselves, manufacturers benefit from using root cause analysis to solve those problems in other ways.

Discovering the root cause of an issue is the most efficient way to solve that problem. Here are a few of the benefits organizations can gain by implementing RCA.

Types of Root Causes:

In general, root cause analysis uncovers three fundamental factors contributing to a problem. These three types of root causes are:

• Physical Causes
• Human Causes
• Organizational Causes

Physical Causes:

A physical root cause is a factor linked to a tangible object. It might be an equipment failure, like a piece of machinery not working correctly. It might also be a problem related to raw materials or some other tangible source.

Human Causes:

A failure that occurs during human interaction is considered a human root cause. Incorrect actions, bad decisions, and human error are all human causes. And human root causes are a good example of one problem leading to another.

For example, a worker who fails to perform maintenance procedures correctly could result in a physical problem when a piece of machinery fails.

Organizational Causes:

Organizational causes are problems that occur because of a failure in the system of processes established by the organization.

These systems provide a framework for the processing procedure, and if a failure occurs somewhere during the establishment of these systems, it will likely cause other problems down the line.

Root Cause Analysis Methods:

• Root cause analysis is a multi-step process. These steps have several goals. First, to uncover the root cause.
• Second, to work out a solution to the problem by addressing the root cause directly.
• Third, implementation of that solution. A fourth goal could be included: follow-up observations and testing to ensure the problem has been solved successfully.
• The ASQ has outlined six steps organizations should follow to perform an effective root cause analysis. They are: