Title: The approach for skill up in five-why for investigating root cause of quality problems

Authors: Kousei Sugitani, Hiroshi Morita

Addresses: Department of Information and Physical Sciences, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita Osaka 565-0871, Japan. ' Department of Information and Physical Sciences, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita Osaka 565-0871, Japan

Abstract: We propose effective steps for skill up in five-why for investigate root cause in order to find solutions to quality problems that lead to customer complaints. Skill up in five-why consists of four stages: skill up for beginners, skill up for masters, certification of skill up and evaluation of skill. Skill up is divided into seven steps, namely, teaching, doing exercises for understanding, correcting, practicing, entrusting themselves, confirming skill and evaluating skill. The proposed seven steps for investigating root cause in five-why enable us to solve quality problems more quickly and to enhance the impact of improvements in production lines.

Keywords: five-why; root causes; skill up; quality problems; customer complaints; quality improvement; root cause investigation skills; Toyota; semiconductor manufacturing; wafer fabrication.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDATS.2011.041332

International Journal of Data Analysis Techniques and Strategies, 2011 Vol.3 No.3, pp.221 - 240

Published online: 29 Nov 2014 *

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