Når noget går galt, især i en stor organisation, kan der være et instinkt til at pege fingre og skifte skyld. Dette er nok ikke den bedste måde at forhindre, at problemet opstår i fremtiden. Sakichi Toyoda, grundlæggeren af Toyota Motor Company, udviklede "5 Whys" -processen, en form for grundårsagsanalyse, til at identificere og løse problemer, der opstod i virksomheden. Det er siden blevet bredt vedtaget som en del af Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen og Six Sigma-metoden.
Root Cause Analysis - 5 whys - Five Whys - Genchi Genbutsu philosophy
Storyboard Tekst
Glide: 1
Gary has noticed the widgets coming through his station are defective.
Glide: 2
Gary reports the problem to his boss, and they decide to perform a quick 5 Whys analysis, along with a couple of Gary's co-workers.
Glide: 3
Widgeter Mk. II
The team articulates the problem and builds a linked chain of causation back to the root cause: the secondary widget punchers aren't being cleaned enough.
Glide: 4
The team uses Storyboard That to map out a new protocol for widget puncher maintenance that is easy to understand and follow.
Glide: 5
Gary's boss uses the storyboard as part of her report to upper management, reassuring them that the source of the defects has been eliminated.
Glide: 6
There are no more defective widgets! The manufacturing process has been improved, and everyone is ready to get back to making the product.