Root Cause analysis

A root cause is defined as a factor that caused a non-conformance and should be permanently eliminated through process improvement. The root cause is the core issue the highest-level cause that set-in motion the entire cause and effect’s reaction that ultimately leads to the problem. Root cause analysis is defined as the collective term that describes a wide range of approaches tools and techniques used to uncover causes of problems. Some Root cause analysis approaches are geared more towards identifying true root causes than others some are more general problems solving techniques and other simply offers support for the core activity of root cause analysis. Root cause analysis can be traced to the border field of total quality management that has developed in different direction including the number of problem analysis problem solving and root cause analysis. Root cause analysis is a part of more general problem-solving process and an integral part of continuous improvement because of this root cause analysis is one of the core building blocks in an organization continuous improvement effort. It is important to note that root cause analysis its will not produce any result.it must be made part of a larger problem-solving effort for quality improvement. There are many methodologies approaches and techniques for conducting root cause analysis is Events and casual factor analysis are widely used for major single event problems such as refinery explosion this process uses evidence gathered quickly and methodically to establish timeline for the activities leading up to the accident. Once the timeline has been established the casual and contribution factor can be identified. The change analysis approach is applicable to situations where a system performance has shifted significantly. It explores changes made in people environment, information and more that have contributed to the change in performance. Barrier analysis is the technique that focuses on what controls are in place in the process to either prevent or detect a problem and which might have failed. Management oversight and risk tree analysis is one aspect of this approach is the use of a tree diagram to look at what occurred why it right have occurred. This model provides four distinct phases for resolving problems are situation analysis, problem analysis, solution analysis and potential problem analysis. When carrying out root cause analysis methods and processes it is important to note that while making root cause analysis tools can be used by a single person the outcome generally is better when a group of people work together to find the problem causes. Those ultimately responsible for removing the identified root causes that should be the prominent of the root cause analysis team that’s sets out to uncover them. A typical design of root cause analysis in an organization might follow these steps. A decision is made to a small team to conduct the root cause analysis. Teams’ members are selected from the business process/areas of the organization that experience the problem. The team might be supplemented by the line manager and decision authority to implement solutions. An internal customer from the process with problems. A quality improvement expert in the case where the other team members have little experience with this kind of work. The analysis last about two months. During this analysis equal emphasis is placed on defining and understanding the problem brainstorming its possible causes, analysing cause effect, and devising a solution to the problem. During the analysis period the teams meets at least weekly sometimes two to three times a week. The meeting is always kept shot for 2 hrs and since they are meant to be creative in nature the agenda is quite loose. Once the solution has been designed and the decision to implement has been taken it can take anywhere from a day to several month before the change is complete depending on what is involved in the implementation process. The root cause analysis is usually referred to as an RCA is an approach used to analyse serious problems before trying to solve them by which the main root cause of a problem is isolated and identified. A root cause is defined as a factor which by remove would present the occurrence of adverse event other factor that affect the outcome should not be considered as root causes. Root cause analysis is essential to effective problem solving as preventing the event from occurring is more appreciable than reacting to the resultant harmful effects. Short term solutions are not profitable for large organizations RCA helps to eliminate the source of defect permanently. Root cause analysis could be done using multiple tools and methods in general root cause analysis is about looking deep with in the process to find what when and why an event trigger. Unfortunately, root cause analysis is a reactive approach that means an error or adverse event must happen prior to applying RCA. Root cause analysis is team approach methodology not a single person decision. RCA should start by clearly identifying the problem, usually an adverse event that should not be allowed to happen again. CA should apply shortly after adverse event to keep track of all essential details. Process owner are the main skeleton of a proper RCA although they might not feel much comfortable with such meeting and conversations hence the manager would play a major role explaining the importance of Root cause analysis and to sustain the non-blame culture of the organization. Root cause analysis could be applied using wide variety of tools there is no perfect method that can be used anywhere instead the quality managers would select the suitable approach for organization and team members typically using brainstorming techniques. So first we carefully select the team members sharing on brainstorming, process owner is ideal to your team. Second do not represent the solutions even though you think it is obvious it is not. Then carefully read the graphs and charts, be aware of relationship. Make reasonable improvement suggestions and so not take responsibilities of corrective actions you cannot properly implement.