We all know Lean Six Sigma to be a methodology and a discipline that promotes business process improvement and development through an analytical approach using data, statistics, and the like. One of the techniques that can assure clients of the solution they need is through Root Cause Analysis (RCA).

Root Cause Analysis is a technique that provides a long-term solution that is driven towards the root of a problem. Unlike the usual solution to a certain problem, solving it using RCA will allow a certain client to be able to distinguish the reasons why a problem occurred in the first place. Here at Maximum Potential, we’ll help you learn how you can use RCA to solve company problems and to put an end to all of the mishaps you’re experiencing within your company. We’ll discuss everything such as what RCA is, how it’s important, as well as answer the age-old question: what are the tools used for Lean Six Sigma Root Cause Analysis?

Before we get deeper into that, let’s first discuss how RCA is done through an example.

Root Cause Analysis In-Depth Example

In order for you to have a better and a more comprehensible sense of how RCA is done is through an example; here’s one for you:

You’re a convenience store manager and every single day, you get egg deliveries because you sell egg sandwiches in your convenience store. The time you open is 7:00 A.M. and the eggs need to be delivered to you at 6:00 A.M., just in time for the preparation. However, the eggs always arrive at 7:00 A.M., making the early birds ineligible to get the eggs. You get a lot of complaints and negative feedback about it. What do you do?

Through RCA, you’ll be able to determine that:

• The problem is with the delivery; it takes the delivery guys 1 hour to reach your convenience store.
• For the solution, they need to leave at 5:00 A.M. to arrive at your convenience store at 6:00 A.M.

You solved it using a long-term method!

Tools Used for the Lean Six Sigma Root Cause Analysis

So what tools and resources are used for the RCA? What are the techniques and the things that people do to arrive at a conclusion using Root Cause Analysis? To tell you, there are a lot of Lean Six Sigma Root Cause Analysis Tools that are used by various experts and professionals but among the most famous include:

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis

Being considered as the best and the most efficient Lean Six Sigma Practitioner in the industry, we at Maximum Potential will be able to teach you one of the simplest but the most impacting methods — through the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis or the (FMEA).

In this tool, you’ll be determining the faulty and the failing processes so that they are corrected. In addition to that, the FMEA also tackles detecting and reading different numbers of failures, the activities and responsibilities implemented, and the like.

More often than not, the FMEA is done every single time there’s a new process or product generated.

Five (5) Whys Analysis

Probably the most unorthodox and the most unique out of all the tools, the five whys analysis is the technique that would get to the bottom of a specific problem by asking the question “WHY?” five times. Using this technique, you’ll not just be able to understand the problem, you will also trace where it came from — even questions and related queries about it.

This technique can be used to save a new process, even an old process or procedure that has been outdated.

Fishbone Diagram

Do you imagine a fishbone? Well, it’s one of the tools used for Lean Six Sigma Root Cause Analysis and it’s famous because of the fact that it’s used by companies and departments when they need to solve a certain problem with multiple instances and sub-categories.

The main benefit of this tool is that it’ll be able to analyze even a complex system that works and operates simultaneously — even when a series of problems are existing.

The Fault Tree Analysis

Akin to how the fishbone diagram works, the fault tree analysis is also one of the most aged and the most used tools for Lean Six Sigma Root Cause Analysis as it outlines the root cause of a certain problem by listing down the “possible and feasible” causes in the branches with the tree being the main cause or the main problem.

Should you have any type of request as regards assistance and guidance; even questions about what tools are used for Lean Six Sigma Root Cause Analysis, remember that Maximum Potential is just a call away. We are equipped with the best, the most experienced, and the most trustworthy coaches, instructors, and consultants — and we offer the best Lean Six Sigma Curriculum in the industry too! Contact us and we’ll always be prepared to help you out!

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