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Joseph J. Caylor

What’s in It for Me?: Work Instruction No. 3

Root cause analysis

Published: Monday, June 9, 2008 - 22:00

ABC Company Work Instruction

Purpose: To determine root cause for external nonconformance (customer complaints), internal nonconformance (rework, sort, subcontractor), and quality audit nonconformance findings.

Work description: Nonconformance-generated CPARs and DMRs are analyzed for apparent causes and root causes to determine corrective and preventive action to eliminate the problem and continuously improve the manufacturing process.

Safety considerations: Observe all written and oral safety instructions, appropriate checklists, and guidelines. Follow safe workplace practices.

Maintenance: None

Special Procedures: Check previous customer, internal, and quality audit CPARs and DMRs before proceeding with root-cause analysis.

Unstructured Methods

Intuition

Networking

Experience

5-Whys

 

Structured Methods

Flow charting

Brainstorming

Histogram

Cause and effect diagram

Pareto graph

Control charts

Scatter diagrams

Cross functional team

 

Discuss

About The Author

Joseph J. Caylor’s default image

Joseph J. Caylor

Joseph J. Caylor is principal of Ceethree Co., a management systems consulting, training, and auditing company. He’s a Six Sigma Black Belt, a quality engineer, a quality auditor, and a calibration technician. He’s also certified by the American Society for Quality as a manager of quality and organizational excellence, and by the Registrar Accreditation Board as a quality systems and environmental systems auditor.