adminProductivity column Eng. William Msekiwa Goriwondo
Our lives are full of problems which many optimists would want to call challenges. Some very optimistic people have called them temporary setbacks. This stands to show that problems do exist and they hinder progress in one way or the other. Trying to attain improved productivity in an organization comes with its own challenges as well. What then distinguishes success and failure is how one handles or tries to overcome any such problems. Adopting proper problem solving techniques has a definite positive impact on productivity or on any other problems that may arise in one’s life.
A problem has been defined as a variation from the expected or planned. It is a challenge that prevents you from achieving what you want. One example of a problem in a manufacturing organization is failure to satisfy customer demand. Looking at this problem may attract different solutions from different people.
It is only when you try to approach the problem in a systematic manner that you will arrive at the root cause of the problem. There are a multitude of reasons as to why you fail to satisfy customer demand but what matters at this stage is what is really causing that failure. There are also a multitude of causes that result in that problem. Finding the root cause is the important factor to achieve improvement.
When we look back at the problem of failure to meet customer demand, we need to define what the problem is. There is a chance that this failure is only a symptom of the real problem. A symptom is usually how a problem manifests itself yet the real problem is hidden somewhere.
It is for this reason why we should get to the root cause of each problem. Addressing the symptoms of a problem will not get us sustainable solutions but will create temporary relief. The first step towards problem solving is to define in no uncertain terms what the problem is. If it is not immediately apparent, define the symptoms in great detail.
This will help you get the first insight into the real problem and through the structured approach to problem solving you will get to the root cause.
I will give a slightly different example to explain the “root cause” principle. If you are a farmer and you see one of your plants drying up, the immediate problem will be defined as the drying plant.
This is in actual fact the symptom of the problem. From an uninformed position, one would be tempted to think that it is lacking water and will invest in watering the plant. After periods of watering, you may realize that there is no improvement and in actual fact the plant is suffering more.
There is however a probability that watering the plant may resolve the problem.
If a full investigation to this symptom is done, one will take a structured approach that would define the problem through its symptoms. The plant will be broken down to its components and the problem is attacked step by step. After full analysis, it may emerge that the root system of the plant is under attack or is being eaten away.
If you eliminate the “root eaters”, you would have removed the “root cause” and hence solved the problem. In many cases you would then want to ensure that this will not happen again.
Why are we failing to meet customer demand and how is this manifesting itself. The problem should be defined and objectives to solve this problem set. There are a number of problem solving tools that are available for use to attack this problem. I will discuss just a few in this article and show how they help attain improved productivity.
Brainstorming, the five Why technique and the Fish bone diagram are among some techniques that can be used in problem solving.
Brainstorming has been used from time immemorial in solving problems. If used properly it will help generate a pool of ideas on what the root cause or what the problem is.
Over the years and through research, brainstorming has been improved. The Japanese even created an improved brainstorming approach called the “Kaizen Blitz” meaning a blitz for continuous improvement. In brainstorming, you take a sizeable number of individuals and explain what you aspire to achieve.
The individuals could be from the same department but more output is envisaged if they are from different departments.
This helps give diversity to the thinking process. When the topic for discussion is given, you then ask for input from the individuals and the ideas should be taken down in their “raw state”.
This means that no criticism is done to ideas as they are said and no comments are given at the beginning. When all the ideas have been taken down, the next phase is to get clarification and align these to the topic. At this stage, some ideas are “temporarily” discarded and others are combined. This process is taken further to try and address the problem.
Its strength is that many minds are better than one but they need to be mobilised in a structured manner.
The 5 Why technique is another way of getting to the root cause of the problem and possibly get a solution that clears the problem. The basics of this technique is to ask the question WHY?, 5 times. You would say WHY are we failing to meet customer demand? The answer to this question would be followed by another WHY?
And this should be continued successively until you get to the root cause. The number 5 indicates a possible optimum number of times that one can ask but it can be more or less. The reason WHY we can’t meet customer demand may be because we do not have capacity. WHY don’t we have capacity?
Maybe we are running two machines instead of three with lots of breakdowns and downtime. WHY are we running two machines in steady of three? WHY are we having lots of breakdowns and downtime? Answers to these questions are definitely migrating towards the root cause of the problem and there are high chances that a solution would be gotten.
The Fish Bone Diagram is a technique for problem solving that was developed by a Quality Guru called Kauro Ishikawa. For that reason it is also known as the Ishikawa Diagram. Its other name is the Cause and Effect Diagram. Ishikawa believed that for every effect, there is a cause and there are causes to be specific.
A problem is an effect and the idea in problem solving is to establish what caused that effect. Removing the causes would result in elimination of the problem.
The Fish Bone diagram is a diagram that resembles the bones of fish. Its resemblance is in that it has the main bone that leads from the head to the tail. At the head end, you write the effect or the problem that needs to be solved. Attached to this main bone are the smaller bones that signify the probable causes and these can be categorized.
The categories for failure to meet customer demand may be on People, Processes, Plant, Materials, etc. The diagram is such that it helps the thinking process by attracting ideas on what the probable causes could be.
These few techniques can help you to establish the root cause of the problem. They may be used singly but are more effective when a right combination of tools and techniques is established. The problems that we encounter usually remain unsolved because we focus on the symptoms and treat the symptoms.
The more we aspire to establish the root cause, the more we get solutions to the problems that we encounter.
If problems are encountered with low productivity levels, going through the structured approach to problem solving would help in improving productivity. The techniques available for problem solving are not limited to those discussed in this article.
These techniques are also not limited to productivity but can be used to solve any other problems that one may encounter.
Eng. William Msekiwa Goriwondo is a Lecturer at NUST in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. He is a World Class Manufacturing principles consultant at The Business Profitability Excellence Consulting (BPEC). He is also an Expand Your Business (EYB) trained Trainer. For comments and feedback, please contact [email protected], 0712 919 314 or 0773 715 381.
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