From the course: A3 Problem Solving for Continuous Improvement

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Find the deeper root causes

Find the deeper root causes

From the course: A3 Problem Solving for Continuous Improvement

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Find the deeper root causes

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- A few years ago I arrived late for work because my car wouldn't start. I figured out later that I forgot to lock the door, my kids played in the car and they left the interior light on all night which drained the battery. Even if I would have bought a new battery this could've happened again because the root cause wasn't a bad battery, it was that I forgot to lock the car. Similarly, in an organization it's important to find and address the root causes of a problem not just the symptoms so that problems don't repeat. The five why methodology is a great way to accomplish this. As the name implies when a problem occurs you ask why five times with the answer to each why you form the next why question until there's agreement from the team that the real root cause has been identified. Let me illustrate this through our inventory case study where out control is a manufacturing company that is having significant inventory discrepancies which is hurting delivery to their customer. The out…

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