Quality programs, such as QS 9000, common to the automotive
industry, use the concept of root cause analysis in problem
solving. The person new to the system is frequently tempted
to quickly jump at the answer without depth of
investigation. A quality review that discovers quick
assumptions being made by management will uncover this
weakness in company operations.
Quality programs have been the way of life for operations
in the aviation manufacturing business since WWII, but it
has spilled over into other industries in modern times.
Quality companies seeking certification under quality
programs such as ISO 9000 will have to learn the discipline
of digging for the root cause. For example, an airliner
crashes, and on the surface it appears to be pilot error,
frequently the first assumption made by the FAA. The crash
investigation team knows better. There is much digging to
be done.
In the industrial setting, a quality certified operation
demands the discipline of root cause analysis. For
example, a manufacturer of car seat actuators was
challenged by an annual cost reduction challenge, which is
common to automotive operations. The cost reduction
challenge was passed down to the gear manufacturer, a
subcontractor, and the gear manufacturer sought ways to
reduce material cost. One common approach is to go offshore
with material and/or manufacturing requirements. Since
changing the source of material and manufacturing requires
prequalifying the new source, samples of the offshore
products need to be cycled through the engineering,
manufacturing, and quality operations. Testing, similar to
the original qualification testing, needs to be repeated.
This is the normal course of events when developing
alternate sources.
If the new parts performance measure up to original parts
performance, then the new source is qualified, and parts
can now be sourced from off shore. The other possible
outcome is that there are significant shortcomings in the
new parts, and the offshore source needs to be sidelined
until quality issues are cleared up. Proceeding without
prequalifying testing could cause havoc in the field. The
following is a possible scenario that reflects lack of
quality discipline.
The new source of gears is accepted without
prequalification testing, and the new parts are built into
the product. The seat actuators are shipped worldwide, and
they are installed into sedans and vans representing the
spectrum of vehicles all the way up to luxury cars. Then
there is a rash of part failure across the board ' in some
cases with serious injuries resulting. The sales outlet
CEO is screaming; the parent organization officers are
screaming; the domestic original product manufacturer is
embarrassed, and they are eager to help.
Root cause analysis is brought into play. The new products
are collected and sidelined for belated qualification
testing. The original source production line is reactivated
to produce qualified products, and the pipeline is filled
with originally qualified products. Meanwhile, the new
assemblies made from unqualified parts are cycled through
the qualification testing series. Notable differences are
found in the performance of new actuators, and the new
source is condemned.
The chain of events can be summarized as follows: Seat
failure BECAUSE OF actuator failure BECAUSE OF gear
failure BECAUSE OF unqualified source BECAUSE OF failure to
prequalify: ROOT CAUSE
This case is fairly transparent, but most of the time the
root cause of failure is elusive, and it takes detective
work to get to the source of the problem. It could require
a cycle of analysis / testing / re-analysis, etc. In most
real world situations it requires a team effort to clear up
a problem. It's worth every effort because the future of
the company and jobs is at stake. It is not for the faint
hearted.
----------------------------------------------------
For more management and leadership articles and
anti-leadership from The Crass Captain, visit
http://www.CrassCaptain.com . Find Christine Casey-Cooper's
new book, entitled The Crass Captain's Guide to
Organizational Dysfunction, on Amazon soon.
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