Most of the consumer market products such as high end electronic products, smartphones , tablets and computers need to go through a series of
complicated manufacturing process to become a final consumer product. This finished product could go through various
manufacturing processes at different global locations with thousands of process
steps across a multiple supply chain.
Each process step is consists of inputs, process and output which is could be repeated thousands of times to make a product.
- Inputs - elements which involve in product creation
Man – Operator who make the
product
Machine - equipment which is needed to make the product
Method - work instruction on how to make the product
Material - raw material or semi raw material needed to
make the product
Measure - Inspection and test needed to check product quality
Environment - Temperature, humidity, electrical static
discharge (ESD) which could impact
product
The process itself -
series of unit operations/work and decision taken to transform raw
material to a product
Outputs
- WIP to final product which will eventually
being sold
Given the complexity
of the processes and multiple tier of supply chains to bring the product
to consumer market, it is very rare to find
all process are well executed with no issues from start 1st tier
supply chain to final product. Along the
way it is inevitable to have special cause problems (unpredictable) in process inputs which could cause sudden
spike increase in defective product, therefore systematic
problem solving approach had been created.
(Refer to my previous articles to
know more about special cause). Systematic
problem solving approach such as 8 discipline could trace its roots to the
automobile industries before the era of digital world. Later on with the boom
in electronic manufacturing, companies
such as Dell and HP had adopted this systematic approach to resolve problems which happened in
manufacturing process. Over the years
organization such as Dell had modify the 8 discipline (8D) into more simplify 5 C format.
All good problem solving approaches should have the
following criteria in systematic order :-
1. Understand and problem
description
2. Short term to contain
problem from impacting customer
3. Find root cause of the
problem
4. Establish action plan
(corrective and/or preventive action) to address the root cause
5. Validate the effectiveness
of the action plan
Three of the most common problem solving approaches use in manufacturing industries are 8D, 5C and 7 steps. The table below compare them against each
other to check if there any differences or actually they are the same per table
below. I have also include templates of
those problem solving approach in the resources where you can download and
use.
Items
|
8D
|
5
C
|
7
Steps
|
Background
|
Developed
by Ford motors
|
Developed
by Dell
Simple
to use
|
Unknown
|
Popularity
|
Most
common used in electronics and automobile industry. Over the years several big organization
modify the steps slight to suit its need
|
Dell
and its supplier
|
General
application beyond manufacturing
|
What
are steps
|
Define
team
Describe
the problem
Develop
Containment Action
Determine
root cause
Develop
corrective action
Develop
preventive action
Verify
action
Congratulate
team
|
Characterize
Containment
Cause
analysis
Corrective
action
Closure
|
Problem
statement
Goal
Present
status
Analysis
Root
cause
Corrective
action
Monitoring
|
From the table below, all three problem solving
methods have the 5 systematic order and
actually there is no difference if 5C, 8D or 7 steps.
Events
|
8D Steps
|
5 C Steps
|
7 Steps
|
Identify team/ understand problem
|
Define team
Describe the
problem
|
Characterize
|
Problem statement
Goal
Present status
|
Short term plan to contain problem from impact customer
|
Develop Containment
Action
|
Containment
|
Present status
|
Find root cause of the problem
|
Determine root
cause
|
Cause analysis
|
Analysis
|
Develop action plan to address problem root cause,
|
Develop corrective
action
Develop preventive
action
|
Corrective
action/preventive action
|
Corrective action
|
Verify action plan effectiveness
|
Verify action
Congratulate team
|
Closure
|
Monitoring
|
Refer to this video on problem solving for more details.
