Different Problem Solving Techniques

Problem Solving Techniques

 - What is problem?

problem is any gap between what is expected and what is obtained.

 - Efforts taken to reduce the gap between what is expected and what is obtained is called problem solving.

Key skills for problem solving:
 - Teamwork

 - Creativity

 - Research and analysis

 - intelligence

 - Risk Management

 - Communication

 - Decision Making

Problem Solving common steps:

 - Identify the problem

 - Analyze the problem

 - Find out solution

 - Implement the solution

 - Monitoring, Analysis and Evaluation of the solution.

Types of Solutions

1) Immediate Corrective Action (ICA)

 - ICA means instant action taken to correct the nonconformity or to reduce the impact of nonconformity. It is like First-aid.

2) Permanent Corrective Action (PCA)
 - PCA means steps that are taken to remove the causes of an existing nonconformity.

3) Prevention
 - Prevention means to eliminate the cause of potential nonconformity that are responsible for undesirable situation.

4) Preventive Action
 - Preventive action means steps taken to remove the cause of potential nonconformity that are undesirable.

5) Action to Prevent Recurrence (Horizontal Deployment)
 - Action taken to prevent further recurrence of such nonconformities in similar manufacturing process of product.

Different Types of Problem Solving Techniques are: 

1) DMAIC

   D = Define, 

   M = Measure

   A = Analysis

   I = Improve

   C = Control

 - Define the problems, improvement activity, the project goals, and customer (internal and external) requirements.

 - Measure process performance.

 - Analyze the process to find the root causes of variation and poor performance (defects).

 - Improve process performance by finding and eliminating the root causes.

 - Control the improved process and future process performance to minimize repeated issues.

 - DMAIC is implemented as a part of Process improvement or Quality improvement.

2) PDCA Cycle

 - PDCA cycle is also called as Deming Cycle or Deming Wheel. and PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) is called as Shewhart Cycle.

 - Use the PDCA cycle when:

 1) Starting a new improvement project

 2) Developing a new or improved design of a process, product, or service

 3) Defining a repetitive work process

 4) Planning data collection and analysis in order to verify and prioritize the root causes analysis.

 5) Implementing any change

 6) Working toward continuous improvement

 - PDCA refers to

Plan - finding an opportunity and plan a change.

Do - Test the change. Carry out a small-scale study.

Check - Review the test, analyze the results, and identify what you’ve learned.

Act - Take action based on what you learned in the previous stage study.

3) 8D 

 - 8 disciplines of problem solving is developed at Ford Motor used to approach and to resolve problems. 

Eight Disciplines of problem solving are mentioned below:

 - D1: Create a team - Select and establish a team of people with product/process knowledge.

 - D2: Define & describe the problem - Specify the problem by identifying in quantitative terms the who, what, where, when, why, how, and how many (5W & 2H) for the problem.

 - D3: Develop interim containment plan - Define and implement containment / immediate actions to isolate the problem from any customer.

 - D4: Determine, identify, and verify root causes and escape points - Identify all applicable causes why the problem was occurred. Also identify why the problem was not noticed at the time it occurred. All causes shall be verified or proved, not determined by blurry brainstorming. One can use why why analysis and cause and effect diagrams to map causes against the effect or problem identified.

 - D5: Choose and verify Permanent Corrective Action (PCA) for problem/nonconformity - Through pre-production programs, quantitatively confirm that the selected corrective action will resolve the problem for the customer.

 - D6: Implement and validate corrective actions - Define and implement the best corrective actions (CA).

 - D7: Take preventive measures to avoid recurrence - Modify the management systems, operation systems, practices, and procedures to prevent recurrence of this and all similar problems.

 - D8: Congratulate your team - Recognize the collective efforts of the team. The team needs to be formally thanked by the organization.

4) A3

 - A3 is a problem solving as well as continuous improvement tool.

 - It was first used by Toyota in 1960s.

 - A3 Report format allows the entire problem identification, clarification, analysis and resolution steps to be documented on one single sheet of paper.  “A3” is actually derived from a standard European paper size similar to 11 inch x 17 inch.

Eight Dimensions of A3 are

 - Clarify the problem

 - Breakdown the problem

 - Set the target

 - Analyze the root cause

 - Develop Countermeasure

 - See countermeasures

 - Evaluate results and processes

 - Standardize the success.

Comparison Between Different Problem Solving Techniques