Why Your 5 Whys Investigations Fail to Stop Recurring Defects
The 5 Whys method is the most accessible root cause analysis tool in quality engineering, and also the most abused.…
Problem Solving & Quality Tools
74 articles
Rebuilding FMEA From Compliance Theatre to Engineering Discipline
Most FMEA documents are static paperwork that predict nothing. Here is how to fix the process, the RPN arithmetic trap,…
Why A3 Problem Solving Degrades Into Bureaucratic Box-Checking
The A3 is a thinking tool, not a compliance form. Here is how organisations strip the methodology of its power,…
The Ishikawa Diagram Is a Hypothesis Tool, Not a Root Cause Finder
Why your fishbone sessions produce lists instead of answers — and how to convert a wall of Post-its into confirmed…
Why 5 Whys Investigations Fail in Manufacturing CAPA Systems
The 5 Whys tool fails not because it is too simple, but because organisations strip out the verification step. Here…
Rebuilding FMEA: From Compliance Spreadsheet to Prevention Tool
How PFMEA and DFMEA analyses become audit liabilities, and the specific mechanical, procedural, and cultural shifts required to turn them…
PDCA in Practice: Why the Loop Never Closes and How to Fix It
Most organisations draw the four boxes, run the cycle once, and declare victory. Here is how to stop confusing activity…
How Design Teams Corrupt the House of Quality Before Production Begins
QFD fails not at the factory floor but in the conference room where it is built. The upstream design stage…
8D Problem Solving: When Eight Disciplines Become Eight Empty Form Fields
Most 8D reports are customer theatre. This is how the methodology gets hollowed out at each step, and what quality…
A3 Problem Solving: Rebuilding the Discipline Behind the Document
How the A3 report becomes a compliance ritual, the specific failure modes that destroy its value, and the management behaviours…