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Continuous Improvement with the "Five Whys?" |
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Womack, Jones and Roos describe Toyota's use of a problem solving process called "The Five Why?s". When a problem occurs, employees ask a series of questions, all starting with the word "why". They ask, "Why did this happen?", and "Why did that happen?", until they get to the bottom of the matter. Usually this is achieved within, you guessed it - "five whys". When they get to the root cause of the problem, they devise a rigorous solution to eliminate it, so that it can never happen again. This the most important way which Toyota uses to enact Kaizen - continuous, incremental improvement.
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Womack, James P., Jones, Daniel T., Roos, Daniel. The Machine that Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production. Harper Perennial. New York. 1990.
This book is the result of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's International Motor Vehicle Program -- the most comprehensive examination of the global auto industry ever undertaken. The authors use hard data and intimately informed insight to cut through the myths and misinformation which cloud the common understanding of good manufacturing practice. Even though this book focuses on the automobile industry, the model of Lean Production -- which is called "Japan's secret weapon" -- can be applied to any enterprise in any industry. Womack, Jones and Roos bring western readers up to speed with the Japanese concepts of Kaizen (continuous, incremental improvement) and Kanban (just-in-time production), claiming and proving that Lean Production is a superior method for manufacturing excellence.
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