A3Reports

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A3Reports
WhatAreA3Reports?
Aprocessusedtodocumentandreportsolutionstoproblemsestablishedwithin anyareaoftheorganization organization.Thisdiffersfromothertypesofreportinthewaythat allinformationisdisclosedonanA3sheet. A3Thinking=RelentlessImprovement/EliminateWaste

A3Reports
Why Wh do d weneed dthem? th ?
A3Reportsofferasimpleandstructuredapproachtoreporting solutionstoproblems. A3Reportsareparticularlyeffectiveindemonstratingtothirdparties theproblemsolvingprocess A3Reportsrevealtheactionstaken,ortobetaken,inpreventing defects/eliminatingproblems. A3Reportsrequiresclear,concisethinkingandlogic,theA3(11x17) limitationreinforcessubstanceovervolume Essentially,A3Reportsguidetheidentification&eliminationof waste,inordertocontrolprocesses. A3Thinking=PermanentEliminationofProblem

A3Reports
F Follow ll PDCA(DMAIC) process
Plan=Define&Measure Do=Analyze Check=Improve Act=Control

C Critical iti lelement l tof f continuousimprovement Requirescriticalthinking

Focusoncriticalfew Notjustcorrectthe problem bl Buteliminateit

A3Reports
A3CriticalThinking Onemore tooltodrivetowardsperfection
LeanSixSigma g & ContinuousImprovement

A3 thinking is continuous improvement

LeanSixSigma Alone

ContinuousImprovementAlone

A3Reports

11

17

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Dont be b fooled f l dby b the h simplicity l of fthe h form f Theformisthebyproductofcriticalthinking
Focusingonthecriticalfewdrivers Ignorethenoise Gobeyondthesuperficial Digforthetruerootcause Developcorrectiveactionsthatnotonlyfixthecondition buteliminatethepotentialforittooccuragain

Goal: Eliminate the Defect For Good

A3Reports
IthasbeensaidthatthetypicalU.S.firm,whenfacing avexingprobleminwhichithasoneyeartosolve, wouldspendthreemonthsplanning,threemonths implementing,andsixmonthstweakingandpickingup looseends.Toyota,facingasimilarsituation,would spendelevenmonthsplanningandonemonth implementing(withnolooseendstocleanup!). Durward K.Sobek II.;Art Smalley.UnderstandingA3 Thinking:ACriticalComponentofToyota's Toyota sPDCA ManagementSystem(p.5).KindleEdition.

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PDCAaimstoimprovelongtermsystem performancenotjustsolvethecurrentcrisis

Plan Do Check Act

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ExampleofA3thinking PlantAhasamachineproducingdefectsata rate t of f4.3% 4 3% Noreadilyapparentreason Whatwouldyoudo?

A3Reports
Example E l A3thinking hi ki Paretodefects Addresslargestdefect FishbonePotentialCauses DevelopCorrectiveActionto addresseachcause Trialeach Identifiesbreakthroughsolution
Toolingsupplierissue Changes Ch tooling li supplier li Defectdropfrom4.3%to0.3%

Didhedoagoodjob?

A3Reports
ExampleA3thinking Whatdidwemiss?
Whatdidthetoolingsupplierdo? Arethereany ychecksinp placetomonitorthetooling? g Whoisresponsibleforthetooling? Howshouldthetoolingbemanaged?
Scheduledmaintenanceandinspection? QCcheck?

Howdowepreventthisfromrecurring?

A3Reports
KeyTakeawayfromourlittleexample:

The Goal: Elimination of the problem not just correction How many times do we solve the same problem? bl ?

A3Reports
CreatingtheA3 TeamBasedActivity/Collaborative Requiresdirectobservation Iterativeinnature
Workinpencil Haveabigeraser

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KeyElementsofA3Thinking 1. LogicalProblemSolvingProcess 2. Objectivity 3 Both 3. B thresult ltand dth the[problem [ bl solving] l i ]process areimportant 4 Beingabletodiscernthecriticalfew 4. 5. Collaboration 6. Coherent 7. SystemsView

A3Reports
TheProcess
Plan

Do

Check Act

A3Reports
Seektofullyunderstandthecurrentsituation
Wheredidtheproblemoccur? Whendidtheproblemoccur? Whatweretheexactconditions Ifpossibleseetheproblemfirsthand
Confront
Assumptions Bias Misconceptions

Preferencetodiagramsoverwords

 IdentifytheRoot Cause

A3Reports

Themostobvious causeisrarelythe rootcause Usuallymultiplelayers ofcauseandeffect 5Whys?

PostItNoteExercise edo downu until t you Drive runoutofcauses EachCause isalsoan Effect

 5WhyExample: xample:

A3Reports

Bobdrivesa7yearoldcar,helivesinWisconsin,andhiscar isnotgaraged.ItsJanuary. Lately, Lately whenhegets get sinhiscaritoccasionallydoesnotstart. start Hehastojumpitwiththeotherfamilycar,aoneyearold SUV.Afterthatheisabletodrivethe30minutestowork andthecarstartsthatnight g forthedrivehome.TheSUVis garaged. Bobwantstoknowwhattherootcauseis?

Task
UsePostIts Createa5Whytree B i t Brainstorm Whatquestionswouldyoulikeanswered?

A3Reports
5Whyexample:
Car wont start in the morning Battery is d d dead

Battery y doesnt hold a charge

Battery y doesnt charge

Battery y is drained overnight

It is cold outside at night

Battery is old

Alternator is going

Something stays on

A3Reports
A3Example
Isthereapatterntowhatdaysthecardoesntstart?
Dayof fweek? k? Weather(temperature)thatnight? Whodrovethecarlast?

Doesitevernotstartonthewayhomefromwork? Doesiteversitovertheweekend?
Doesitstart?

Doyoueverparkitinthegarageovernight?
Doesitstartthen?

Dont stop at the obvious (many times this is not the true root cause but a symptom)

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DevelopCorrectiveActions
Think:
Simple,robust,preventionovercorrection

Gainorganizational g buy yn
Lookforpitfalls Avoidoverburdening Avoiddevelopingnewsystems
Useexistingsystems

Develop D l aclear l picture i t of fth thecountermeasures t

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DevelopandImplementationPlan
Who What Why Wh Where When h How

A3Report
CreateaFollowUpPlan
Thisishowareyougoingtomeasureandensurethecorrective actionsworked?
Whatwastheplannedoutcome? Whatwastheactualoutcome? Isthereadifference? Why? Whatareyougoingtodoaboutit?

Reviewtheresultswiththegroup
Weretheresultsachieved?
Ifso,obtainfinalapprovals(jobdone)andconvertanyoutstanding itemsintostandardoperations
Updatequalityandworkprocedures Updatemaintenanceplans AuditsandVerifications

A3Report
TheA3Reportisntjustaform Itisamethodology h d l to:
Logicallyaddressissues Determinetruerootcause Developcorrectiveactions Implementcorrectiveactions Measureresultsagainstexpectations Standardize/InstitutionalizetheImprovements

A3Report
CompletingtheA3:Background
Demonstrateclearunderstandingoftheissue Makeitvisual Understandyouraudience Providethenecessarydata/factstoquantifytheissue

A3Report
CreatingtheA3:Background
Consider
Currentstate Keyfactorsoftheprocess QuantitativeData/FactsPresented

A3Report
CreatingtheA3:Goalstatement
Howwillweknowwhentheprojectiscomplete

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CreatingtheA3:RootCauseAnalysis
5Whys 7QualityControlTools
Checksheets ParetoCharts Histograms g CauseandEffect(Fishbone) Correlation ControlCharts Fl Ch Flow Charts t

Separatefactfromopinion Limitedspace
Summarize S i the th main i findings fi di
YouwilldoalotofworkoutsidetheA3

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CreatingtheA3:DevelopCorrectiveActions (Countermeasures)
Who What Why Where Wh When How

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CreatingtheA3:EffectConfirmation
Verifytheresults Howdoresultscomparevs.Goal

A3Report
CreatingtheA3:FollowUpActions
Doy youneedtotakeany yadditionalactionsbased onwhatyouhavelearned? Whatdoy youtodotosustainthegains? g Whoelseshouldknowaboutthis(transferof knowledge)

A3Report
AreassuitableforA3
Spoilage QualityIssues DesignImprovements/Changes Maintenance Logistics g Issues PlanningIssues WorkflowImprovement ChangeoverReduction

A3Report
TheA3isnotsomemagic The h A3inand dof fitself lfdoes d notsolve l the h problem
Helpguidetheproblemsolvingprocess Forcestheusertofocusonthemajorfewnotthe trivialmany

Rememberthegoal:
Dontjustcorrectthecurrentcondition Preventtheproblemfromrecurring