A3, 8D and root cause analysis, in the format your customer will actually ask for
If the same defect comes back every quarter, it was never solved. It was paused.
Organizations react to problems without eliminating root causes, and that creates recurrence. The team puts out the fire, closes the report, and the defect returns under a different name three months later.
What it is forBuild the organization’s capacity to solve problems in a structured, preventive and sustainable way.
How I run it- On site workshop built on real cases from your plant, not textbook exercises.
- Follow up coaching on days 10, 20 and 45, over Teams or Zoom.
- Evidence rules: before a cause is accepted, we define which data holds it up.
People who reach root cause without guessing, and problems that stop coming back.
In depth, one by one
Fishbone diagram
It exists to organize hypotheses before you spend money testing them. It does not exist to guess elegantly.
Read MethodPoka yoke
If your quality control depends on nobody getting distracted for eight hours, you do not have control. You have hope.
Read MethodFMEA
It is the only tool on this list that works on a defect that has not happened yet. Which is why it is the one most often filled in out of obligation and least often actually used.
ReadWhich one fits me, A3 or 8D?
Automotive and corporate customers usually ask for 8D when there is a formal complaint. A3 works better for internal improvement and for teaching people how to think. Many plants end up running both.
Do participants leave with real problems solved?
Yes. The workshop runs on cases from your operation, and the day 10, 20 and 45 coaching exists precisely so those cases get closed.
How many people per group?
It works best between 12 and 20, because each team works its own case and I need time to sit with all of them.
What is holding your operation back today?
Tell me the concrete problem. I will tell you whether it is mine to solve or someone else’s, and what I would do first.