Systematic Problem Solving Strategies:

Improving Customer Satisfaction and

Efficiency
Problem solving strategies are common place in business and it is essential that the right tool
is used for the specific problem in hand.

Process improvement and effective problem solving strategies are two weaknesses of many
companies. Every company has problems. Every single one. The difference between the
outstanding, world class performers and the average companies is how well they react to
issues when they arise. More importantly, how well they put to bed issues that have risen, so
they do not come back.

The better performing companies have also found ways to get better at what they do –
continuously.

Some companies believe that scrap, waste and defects are just the cost of being in business.
“It’s what happens – it’s life!” They’re right! It is a cost… a cost that can be avoided, because
this cost is a cost of poor quality!

This cost adds up, and up, and up in the form of dollars, euros, Pounds that can, and does
affect your company’s ability to remain profitable… and stay in business. Remember, the
only thing that eventually kills a business is having no cash!

Jidoka – Finding the problem and eliminating those pebbles….

The Japanese call the art of problem solving strategies as Jidoka. Plain and simply; it is the
method of spotting problems as they arise in the work place, stopping, analysing and spending
time to resolve that issue so it doesn’t happen again. This involves a continuous improvement
culture, which takes time and great leadership.

Not using effective problem solving strategies to identify, contain and eliminate the root
causes has a massive and detrimental impact on business performance and stability, and
ultimately seriously jeopardises the business’ competitiveness and existence.

Picking the right issue

In business, errors are made; issues arise, so how do you know what problem to deal with
amongst the mountain of problems that may exist. Where do you start? What problem
strategies are there to help diagnose and eliminate the causes amongst the myriad of issues?

Simply put, one must find the biggest impact, either by number of times the issue arises or the
financial impact it has on the business, or any other scoring method. Then it is a case of
focusing the problem solving effort on this issue until it is resolved.
The Pareto chart is an effective tool for just this. It enables the organisation to visually
identify the biggest issue and then allows the team to focus on rectifying it. Once eliminated,
one can focus on the next biggest issue and so on and so forth in a structured and logical way.

The old cliche of, “How do you eat an Elephant?” The answer: one bite at a time and this is
very true in problem solving. You can’t change the world over night but you can focus the
company’s resources and energy on the biggest impact problem or the top 5 issues, rather than
boiling the ocean, so to speak, starting everything and not completing anything.

Problem Solving Strategies Road Map

When thinking of the term ‘problem solving strategies’, one can be forgiven for conjuring up
a myriad of statistical and in depth analysis tools, however the vision of Kaizen and the
identification and elimination of anything that is a variation to standard is what problem
solving strategies is all about.

You simply pick the most appropriate tool for the problem at hand.

There are a couple of well-known continuous improvement road maps that should be used,
like PDCA or DMAIC, but in essence, problem solving is all about the following:

1. Identify the problem

2. Identify the root causes

3. Brainstorm the solutions

4. Select the appropriate solution

5. Implement and check the impact of the solution

The diagram below summarises.

Identify the Problem

You may know there is a problem, but do you know what the root cause is? Can you put your
finger on the actual problem? Are there a number of issues that are just symptoms of a bigger
cause?

It can be easy to get lost in the see of issues and problems in a business, but keeping it simple
is the main aim of the game.

Simply put, if you have a problem somewhere and it is causing a big impact, measure it!
Understand the process: What is the actual problem? How many times does it happen and
what generic factors are causing this?

Simple Visual tools to firstly expose the problem are QCPC charts, and Pareto Diagrams to
display quick, simple and visual understanding of the problem, its occurrence and the generic
reasons why can be captured.

After this, the next thing to do is to understand the problem further and drill down to the root
causes…..

Identify the Root Causes

Analysis tools like the Process flow chart, Scatter diagrams, histograms and others can help
pin point at what point in the process issues arise, but a simple tool to help kick-start the root
cause analysis is the Fishbone diagram.

The objective here is to wade through the symptoms, and identify the root causes to the
problem.

Brainstorm Alternative Solutions

Use a group, preferably cross functional, to understand the problem, identify the potential
causes and agree what they think the root causes are.

At this point, a simple exercise would be to discuss the problem and in turn, get each
individual within the team to identify possible causes. No idea is a bad idea, and the remit is
to get as many ideas as possible.

This process can be over one session or a number of detailed sessions. The time span will
very much depend on the size of the problem.

Select the Most Appropriate Solution

An agreement must be reached by the team as to what the root cause(s) are, and so, from the
ideas generated in the previous step, the team must agree as to what the top three possible root
causes are.

Once agreed, it’s on to the next stage to work out possible solutions to remove the root causes.
Implement and Check Solution

Root causes and countermeasures highlighted and agreed? The next step is to implement the
solutions, checking the impact of them, and measuring to ensure that the root cause(s) has
gone, thus the problem has been eliminated.

This stage may take time to gather the data and measure the process outputs to truly identify
the impact of the solution – all the time searching to see the level of impact to the initial
problem and whether the problem is still there.

If the problem is in fact still there, then its back to the group brainstorming stage for further
analysis, and repeat the process again.

Problem Solving Tools

Remember, the key is to eliminate problems as soon as you can, therefore creating a
continuous improvement culture, which embeds Jidoka principles.

A number of problem solving strategies are currently popular and can be seen below, so give
them a go and see how you get on. These tools can be used in any industry, company or
sector, with the remit of identifying the problem at source, correcting this problem and
removing the root causes for good. – Continuously striving for this relentless identification
and elimination of problems will mean that your company is more competitive and is
effectively using problem solving strategies to gain leverage on the competition.

Depending upon the complexity of a problem, your

organisation may choose to use any one, or indeed a
number of, the following problem solving strategies:
 Kepner Tregoe Problem solving
 Six Sigma Tools
 5 Whys
 Fishbone diagram
 Consensus Decision making
 TQM Tools
 Lean Manufacturing Principles
 5 Step Approach
 Failure Mode effects Analysis (FMEA)
 8D Problem Solving
What are the Critical Six Sigma Tools?
Six Sigma tools are used to drive quality improvements, strategically and systematically
within a company, which is focused around the DMAIC model. Most of these tools used are
nothing more than quality methods that have been around for years and some for centuries.

They are used under the DMAIC roadmap, to bring together years of various process
improvement techniques and data analysis, into a structured step by step format, with the aim
of finding and eliminating root causes to process problems.

The result – a more robust process that consistently achieves a high standard of output – one
which is capable and in control!

Six Sigma Tools and steps

The following tools are not an exhaustive list, but merely highlight the most utilised six sigma
tools during each phase of a project.

D – Define Phase: Define the problem, project goals, scope of the project and customer
(internal and external) deliverables. Get as much background information to the problem to
strategically support the project.

Typical tools to use:

 Project Charter
 Value Stream Mapping
 Process Flowchart
 SIPOC Diagram
 FMEA
 Understanding CTQs
 Stakeholder Analysis
 Cause & Effect Matrix
 DMAIC Work Breakdown Structure
 Voice of the Customer

M – Measure Phase: Measure the process to determine current baseline performance.

Understand what the problem is and in what conditions it exists. At this stage, initial process
measurement can be conducted, to understand the voice of the current process and begin
developing ‘Y=f(x) relationship.’

Typical tools to use:

 Process Flowchart
 Cause & Effect Matrix
 FMEA
 Data Collection Plan/Example
 Benchmarking
  Measurement System Analysis
 Gage R&R
 Voice of the Customer Gathering
 Process Sigma Calculation

A – Analyze Phase: Analyse the data to understand the Voice of the Customer to evaluate
why the problem is occurring and what the potential root cause(s) of the defects are. At this
stage, the focus is to narrow down the many ‘X’s’ (or causes) to the vital few.

Typical tools to use:

 Histogram
 Pareto Chart
 Time Series/Run Chart
 Scatter Plot
 Regression Analysis
 Cause and Effect/Fishbone Diagram
 5 Whys
 Process Map Review and Analysis
 Statistical Analysis
 Hypothesis Testing (Continuous and Discrete)
 Non-Normal Data Analysis

I – Improve Phase: Improve the process by eliminating defects and the root causes to the
problem. Performing design of experiments, and possible solutions, verifying whether these
solutions work, and eradicating the root causes.

Typical tools to use:

 Brainstorming
 Mistake Proofing
 Design of Experiments
 House of Quality
 Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
 Simulation Software

C – Control Phase: Create the new standard process, which captures the new way of
working, and control future process performance. Process analysis is critical here, to
understand the new process capability and contro, ensuring that the new process is indeed
capable and in control.

Closing the project out also means that project cost savings should be calculated and verified
and all transfer plans/processes created.

Lastly, celebrate the success and communicate to the business!

Typical tools to use:

 Process Sigma Calculation

  Control Charts (Variable and Attribute)
 Cost Savings Calculations
 Control Plan

As you may have seen, some six sigma tools are used throughout the project, like control
plans, cause and effect diagrams, FMEA, process flow charts and others. That is because new
ideas may emerge at anytime during the project, factors that were previously thought of as
being a big impact to the process may eventually be proved otherwise.

At each stage, returning to previous steps or methods, helps close off all possibilities and also
allows the team to track the history of the project in a concise way.
7 Steps to a Fishbone Diagram and to
Identifying Those Causes
The fishbone diagram is a simple tool that allows quick and effective root causes to be
understood, in the pursuit of corrective actions.

Often referred to as a cause and effect diagram, or Ishikawa, it is a simple root cause analysis
tool that is used for brainstorming issues and causes of particular problems and can and often
is used in conjunction with the 5 Whys tool.

In a fishbone diagram, the various causes are grouped into categories and the causes cascade
from the main categories, flowing towards the effect, forming what resembles a fishbone
appearance.

The prime remit is to brainstorm all the possibilities that could cause the problem and then
drill down to the factor(s) that are causing this issue. Once found, eliminate them. It enables
the team to focus on why the problem occurs, and not on the history or symptoms of the
problem, or other topics that digress from the intent of the session. It also displays a real-time
‘snap-shot’ of the collective inputs of the team as it is updated.

How to Conduct a Fishbone Diagram

Draw the box on the right of a flip chart or large dry wipe board, and write the problem
statement in the box. Be as clear and specific as you can about the problem.

Now draw the line going from left to right as the ‘Spine’, connecting to the problem
statement.

Draw the ‘fishbones’ emanating from the spine. These represent the main cause categories.

Now label each Fishbone category. There are two options here. You can use the generic cause
categories of People, Method, Machine, Material, Environment, which is easier to use for a
group that is relatively new to this exercise, or you can brainstorm the major categories
related to the specific problem.

Now brainstorm all the causes to the problem. You could use the approach of writing each
cause on post it notes, going around the group asking each person for one cause. Continue
going through the rounds, getting more causes, until all ideas are exhausted.

For each cause, agree in the group which category the issue should fall in. (An issue can fall
in a number of categories) and continue this process until the group have run out of ideas.

 Next, get each individual in the team in turn, to put a tally mark against the top three
causes they think affect the problem. You can use supporting data to help you decide,
if it is available.
  Once completed, the facilitator adds up all the tallies for each cause and selects the top
three with the highest scores. These three issues will now form the basis of additional
investigation in order to find the root cause. The team may then investigate these
causes further and use problem-solving techniques like 5 Whys to eliminate their
occurrences.

An example Fishbone Diagram

The group in the example below, had a problem with excessive scrap. They then got a cross
functional team together to understand possible reasons, listing each possible cause into
categories.

The next step would be to pick the top three causes and delve deeper to find the true root
causes.

A Few Tips Along the Way

1. Remember, as with any task-based activity, always close the session off with actions and
owners – “Who is doing what by when?” This is important, as it keeps the teams focused on
the project.

2. Hold people accountable and summarise the event, including the actions and deliverables to
take away.

3. Have regular reviews with the team in between events, checking for status against the
action plan, and work ways of getting tasks back on track if they are falling behind schedule.
Keep on top of everything!
4. Leave every task and bit of information clear and concise, so the team understands what is
expected of them.

5. As a part of Visual Management, why not create and place a number of large Problem
solving boards around the shop floor or in the office. Get the teams to start identifying day to
day issues, using QCPC charts and then running quick problem solving sessions, using
fishbone diagrams and 5 whys together, 3 times a month for the highest turnbacks on these
QCPC charts. You will systematically be embedding a problem solving and continuous
improvement culture without even knowing it!
TQM Tools for Effective Problem Solving
and Root Cause Analysis
TQM tools have been around for more than 50 years, and revolutionised the concept of
quality and process conformity. They are still used today, and successful companies
appreciate that building quality into the process is the only way to be competitive.

More than just quality control

Quality control traditionally focused on 100% inspection. That is, the Inspection process
catches the rejects at the end of the line or process, before the product gets shipped to the
customer.

The problem is, 100% inspection is only 70% efficient. There are guaranteed to be parts that
get through the net and passed onto the customer!

Add to this, it is argued that in most cases, and unless the customer specifically requires it,
inspection is Non Value Add.

Prevention is better than cure

It makes sense, therefore to focus on building quality into every process, whereby it is each
operator’s task to pass quality product onto the next customer in the process.

Stop the line authority is critical, whereby the operators should be able to stop production to
highlight a fault, address that fault as a team, and then eliminate the issue, carrying on with
production only when the issues has been resolved.

Measuring process performance is also critical then– understanding real time performance
allows management and operators to address those issues and defects instantly or as close to
this as possible.
Strategic
TQM tools and their implementation, capitalises on the involvement of management,
workforce, suppliers, and even customers, in order to meet or exceed customer expectations,
building quality into the process.

Some specialists highlight nine common TQM practices being:

 cross-functional product design,

 process management,
 supplier quality management,
 customer involvement,
 information and feedback,
 committed leadership,
 strategic planning,
 cross-functional training,
 Employee involvement.

Culture, Culture, Culture…

Like any strategy, it works if it becomes embedded into the fabric of the firm. This takes time
and patience and indeed effort. Perseverance will eventually pay and slowly but surely, TQM
principles will systematically be utilised on a day to day basis, driving problems out of the
business for good.

Effective TQM should be seen as not a system but a way of working, which identifies quality
problems before they happen, and on the odd occasion when issues and defects do arise (hey,
nothing’s perfect!), they are quickly identified at source, contained, so they are not passed to
the customer, and then systematically eradicated to prevent reoccurrence.

TQM Tools
In true nature of preventing rather than curing problems, some of the most popularly used
TQM Tools are as follows:

 Checklists
 Fishbone Diagrams
 Histogram charts
 Pareto Diagrams
 PDCA Cycle (Which TQM is built around)
 Process Flow Charts
 Process Control Chart
Lean Manufacturing Principles
Lean Manufacturing Principles form the underpinning roadmap of Lean. No plan can be
achieved without a roadmap: a plan of action, which supports clear guidelines and principles –
and when incorporating lean, the same applies.

Lean Manufacturing Principles are derived from the Toyota Production System (TPS) and
follow five concepts.

 Understand value in the eyes of the Customer

 Understand the Value Stream
 Make the Value Stream Flow
 Create Pull
 Continuously Improve

Understand Value in the Eyes of the Customer

All Businesses must delight customers in order to retain their own customer base, and indeed
create competitive advantage. Noriaki Kano mentioned, that in order to be competitive,
companies must aim to provide the customer with their basic needs but also create that wow
factor – the delight factor, which they want again and again.

It is clear then, that companies must understand their customer’s needs, in order to provide
them with what they want. This is no different in Lean.

Companies must understand what customers actually want from them – what is it that they see
of value. Only when we know this, we can understand which processes are aligned to
providing the customer with value and which are not.

Understand the Value Stream – Map it!

Understanding the Value Stream is the next step. This is done by mapping all the steps
involved from Customer order to delivery of product / service to the customer. Here,
extensive detail must go into understanding the cycle time of each step, rework %, lost time,
uptime of machines (where applicable),number of staff members involved in the task, and
other information. Your goal is to see waste, so understanding accurate data will also give you
a few clues as to any anomalies going on and where the waste is (Remember Genchi
Genbutsu – going to the source to find facts!)

This data helps you understand where potential opportunities lie in order to make
improvements to that Value Stream.
Are there silos of information, inventory, rework, breakdowns of machines? Are there too
many people operating a process? Is the cycle time in the order process too long?

The VSM will show this information and flow of product, allowing everyone to see it clearly
in a pictorial format.

Make it Flow
How do you make a Value Stream flow? By removing the waste or NVA!

If you remove waste in a Value Stream, you shorten the lead time. Once you have identified
improvement opportunities in your current State VSM, these become your Kaizens for the
next 6 – 12 months.

Each Kaizen is a targeted improvement project, designed to eliminate the waste in the Value
Stream.

The Kaizens should be completed in the required timescale. – The result: a leaner value
stream with shortened lead-times, which flows information and product through the business a
lot quicker and smoother.

Create Pull
So far, we have followed the first three of the five Lean Manufacturing Principles:

Customer requirements and value understood?

The Value Stream is mapped?

Opportunities identified and future state map created with the flow improvements?

-The next step is to create pull. What’s pull?

Pull ensures you build just what the customer wants, with no / little over production.

– just what the customer wants, when he/she wants it!

This ensures that the business is focusing on product that it will be paid for, and not
wastefully producing work to put in stock and sell someday soon – hopefully. Making to
customer order, when the customer wants it is critical. The more flexible you make your
operations through the removal of waste, the better you can align your pull from the customer.

Remember – Inventory is Fear – Effort must go into reducing this to make real “bottom line”
improvements.

Continuously Improve
Lean manufacturing principles are based around the fact that you don’t just do it once. You
have to keep looking and identifying improvements every day, every year, over and over
again.

Once you create improvements and fulfil the new future state, you revisit and start again –
Continuous Improvement never stops!

If you can keep these Lean Manufacturing Principles in mind, coupled with the 7 wastes, then
you will make steady improvements and good progress towards your goal of continuous
improvement and focused Kaizens.

Reinforcement in these two key concepts will help drive a Lean Culture through your
business.
5 Step Problem Solving Approach
The 5 Step problem solving approach assists in the identification and elimination of root
causes to problems, but what is a problem?

A problem is a deviation from the standard. It is something that wasn’t expected and could be
something like, poor on time delivery, poor quality, taking too long in the process, poor
information flow, re-entering data in a spreadsheet, correcting a mistake, high internal scrap.
It can be absolutely anything that creates an output that is not to plan.

Again, the art of being competitive in business is how quickly you can use problem solving
strategies as an embedded culture, to find problems at source and eliminate them.

An alternative to PDCA, the 5 step approach is a simpler alternative, which may help a team
quickly understand and try new ideas to resolve the problem at hand.

One way of solving problems is this five step method:

1.What is the problem?

The first stage of the 5 step problem solving model – Define exactly what the problem is.
Be clear and specific as to what exactly the problem is, when it happens, how often, what
effect is it, what is the deviation from standard? See Problem statement for more information.

2. What is my plan?
Think of at least 2 or 3 possible methods that you might use to identify what went wrong. In
other words, where and what do you need to investigate to help determine the cause. A
strategy is a way or method or process for understanding the root causes.

3. What might happen if?

Examine your list of possible strategies from section 2, and choose the one that seems to fit
best for the problem at hand.

4. Try it out!
Work the strategy, which you chose in step 3 and determine whether your team found the
cause. If you did, then move onto the next step.

5. Measure
Measure the process outputs, and if the problem has gone, you are done!

If your best strategy doesn’t work, go back to your list of possible strategies in Step Two and
choose another. Keep passing through the steps until your measurements tell you the problem
has gone.
The FMEA tool: Prevention is Better than
Cure!
Failure Modes Effects Analysis or FMEA tool is a powerful method for understanding
potential issues and problems to processes, before they happen. Think of it as being a
forecasting tool, to allow the team using it, to design quality and safety into a product and
process, by eliminating the possible problems that could happen, before they happen!

It has been used extensively in safety critical

industries like aerospace businesses, and has become popular in the automotive industry due
to the same requirements.

FMEA Benefits:

The benefits of an effective and systematic use of the FMEA tool are vast. Notwithstanding
the obvious benefits above, FMEAs can create smooth production processes first time,
reduced development costs, increased profit margins in production and the ability to
successfully win more business, supplying competitive and long lasting product.

Additional benefits are:

– Minimize product failures

– Early risk identification

– Track process improvements

– Documented evaluation

– Develop efficient test plans

The FMEA tool is a means of identifying failures before they happen by providing a ‘check
list’ procedure that is built around three key questions.

1. What is the likelihood that failure will occur?

2. What would the consequence of that failure be?

3. How likely is such a failure to be detected before it affects the customer?

How to Create an FMEA

 Review the Process – Map the process in question, step-by-step, capturing every
value added activity.
 Identify Failure Modes – For each process step, brainstorm all potential failure
modes (things that could go wrong with that particular activity).
 List the effects and causes – For each failure mode, list its effect on the output of that
process step, and also the real root cause.
 Give each item a severity score – Rank each failure mode as to how severe the
failure mode could be (scoring 1 to 10).
 Give each item an occurrence score – Rank each failure mode as to how often it will
/ does occur (scoring 1 to 10).
 Give each item a detection score – Rank each failure mode as to how easy the failure
mode can be detected by the next customer or next internal customer in the process.
(Again, scoring 1 to 10).
 Calculate RPN numbers – For each failure mode, give it a Risk priority number
(RPN) by multiplying the severity score x occurrence score x detection score. This
now allows you to focus on the highest scoring, higher risk problems first.
 Develop an action plan – For each high scoring RPN, note who is doing what by
when to close eliminate the failure modes.
 Take action!
 Recalculate new RPNs – Once action has been taken, recalculate the new RPN
numbers. Repeat the steps if further action is needed (if the RPN number is still too
high)

You can use an FMEA tool template by clicking here. There are numbered steps at the top of
each column, which guides you through the typical sequence of completing a Failure Mode
Affects Analysis.