How Does Root Cause Analysis Help In Business Improvement?
Root cause analysis has proven to be one of the most effective tools for business improvement. It is one of the most widely used tools that has made business improvement very easy and simplified. Ask a business improvement consultant and you would get a single answer.
When you start the process of improvement, root cause analysis is the first analysis to take place. After process mapping, the root causes of the problem are found by analyzing each process for its loopholes.
Why is it important?
There are major discrepancies in every process, there is always a way to improve the process to make it more cost-effective, time-effective, and more efficient to add value to the end product.
The lean methodology is based upon the principles of reduction of waste and maximization of value. All this can be achieved with the root cause analysis. Once you have decided to perform a root cause analysis, you must take a few steps to get fruitful results.
Here are the steps that you need to perform to analyze your processes and streamline them for a better quality of the product in the end.
- Team formation
Start by making a small team to conduct the root cause analysis. The root cause analysis can be conducted by a team of members selected from the business departments or Lean Manufacturing Yorkshire.
The team can be supplemented by a manager who can take decisions on behalf of the workforce. There should be an internal customer who can identify the problems from other prospective and a quality improvement expert who can assess the work quality on certain parameters.
2. Duration of Analysis
The duration of the root cause analysis might last for a month or two. It involves a complete emphasis on defining and understanding the problem. It also involves brainstorming the possible causes and analyzing the actual causes and their effects. It also involves the identification of the problem and its potential causes that can also lead to such issues.
3. Identification of Problem
You can devise a solution once the cause of the problem is known. So you can eliminate all the possible causes of a certain problem. These issues when eliminated can streamline and optimize the process to work efficiently and productively. This would yield more value in less time and reduce cost in terms of effort and money.
4. Process
During that period the team discusses, meets, and maximizes for creating agendas to eliminate the causes of problems. Every person in the team is assigned the role of making sure the analysis is done effectively.
The tasks are assigned to various members of the team and each member analyses each process with a detailed report. Fishbone tool and other tools are utilized by manufacturing consultants Yorkshire to make a close analysis.
5. The Solution
Once the causes have been analyzed and solutions designed, the decision to implement is taken. Once the process is complete, there are changes made to each process to implement the new tasks and solutions.
This would eliminate the risk of recurring issues and their potential causes. All this is done in a controlled environment so that the new changes produce effective and expected results.