Når noe går galt, spesielt i en stor organisasjon, kan det være et instinkt å peke på fingrene og skifte skyld. Dette er sannsynligvis ikke den beste måten å forhindre at problemet oppstår i fremtiden skjønt. Sakichi Toyoda, grunnleggeren av Toyota Motor Company, utviklet "5 Whys" -prosessen, en type grunnårsaksanalyse, for å identifisere og løse problemer som oppsto i selskapet. Det har siden blitt mye vedtatt som en del av lean manufacturing, Kaizen og Six Sigma metodikk.
Root Cause Analysis - 5 whys - Five Whys - Genchi Genbutsu philosophy
Storyboard Tekst
Lysbilde: 1
Gary has noticed the widgets coming through his station are defective.
Lysbilde: 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.
Lysbilde: 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.
Lysbilde: 4
The team uses Storyboard That to map out a new protocol for widget puncher maintenance that is easy to understand and follow.
Lysbilde: 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.
Lysbilde: 6
There are no more defective widgets! The manufacturing process has been improved, and everyone is ready to get back to making the product.