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Selecting a Root Cause Analysis Provider Understanding root cause analysis How to select a root cause analysis program - 10 factors Understanding root cause analysis: Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a process designed to facilitate the investigation of the fundamental or root causes for undesired outcomes (e.g. problems, accidents, mistakes, errors, increased cost) with a follow through to corrective action. Root Cause Analysis is a powerful, flexible, and effective means of understanding any situation clearly, generating options and solutions, and converting those options into practice. Root cause analysis is a systematic analysis process that leads the practitioner through a checklist of investigative and analytical techniques designed to understand all key elements associated with the situation, hone in on the actionable causes (those causes that can be controlled), and indicate a course of action that will address those causes in such a way that the undesired outcome is less likely to recur. Root cause analysis should work on any problem independent of the issue under investigation. The common approach when problems occur is to find the most obvious symptom and attack it as quickly as possible. Unfortunately this knee-jerk response often results in more problems than it solves. Systematic approaches are faster and far more effective. Root cause analysis is particularly effective where the actual cause of a problem may not be immediately obvious. Root cause analysis helps practitioners avoid the complications of fixing the wrong problem, complicating a situation with an ineffective approach, or wasting time, money, good will, personal energy, and other vital resources. The root cause analysis package may be paper based and/or software based. In the next section we will discuss how to select a root cause analysis program. Back to top How to select a root cause analysis program: A survey of root cause analysis practitioners showed that up to 25% rated the effectiveness as poor depending on the method they used (Plant Maintenance Resource Center, 2001). With more than a dozen root cause analysis training sources available, what should be considered when making a choice? Could I just buy a book on root cause analysis, some software or should I invest in training? Here are 10 factors you should consider:
Where does your organization
and situation rank in terms of the following dimensions?
Add up your total of high ranking choices. If you have only a few high ranking choices and they do NOT include safety, health, adverse impact to the customer, or compliance with the law, you might be able to get away with buying a few books and trying to bootstrap a root cause analysis program on your own. The greater the number of high rank checkmarks, the more important it is for you to use an existing packaged root cause analysis program with training. The cost of the program should be more than paid for by the reduced cost of failure. The choice then is between a paper based program and a software based program. Paper based systems work well when the participants can meet face to face and run through the process as a team. Software based root cause analysis programs are advantageous when you have: the desire to ensure compliance with the process, a need for speed, a need to engage people who may not be on site and a desire for uniformity across your organization. Here is a overview of a selection of the more significant root cause analysis programs available today. It is not meant to be all-inclusive or exclusive so avail yourself of the internet to see what’s out there. The root cause analysis consultants and providers include Business Solutions, ProAct, Reason, TapRoot, Apollo, Process Improvement Inst. and Solutions for Quality.
If you are expecting to train a dozen or so employees on-site training can quickly pay for itself. Root cause analysis training companies may even customize a portion of the training to apply to your business. Root cause analysis training and RCA programs are designed to address the fundamental causes of problems. They can rapidly pay for themselves and are considered to be a fundamental tool for a world-class organization. Back to top
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Cost Reduction & Profit Improvement
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