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Fix the root cause, not the symptom.

Root Cause & Actions

5-Why analysis, Pareto charts, and corrective action tracking. Solve problems permanently. Stop the same issues from coming back.

Root Cause Analysis: Surface finish out of toleranceOpenClosed
Doc No.RCCA-0058
SourceQA-0031
PriorityHigh
LeaderJ. Taylor
DueJul 02, 2025
ProductAluminum Housing Panel
Problem Description
Brushed aluminum panels showing micro-pitting after anodizing. 120 units affected across Batches #AL-2290 and #AL-2291.
Fishbone Analysis
ProblemManMethodMaterialMeasurementMachineEnvironmentNew operatorRacking methodMaterial variationTimer calibrationBath concentration
5-Why Analysis
1
Micro-pitting on panels? Bath acid concentration too high.
2
Concentration high? Dosing pump recalibrated incorrectly.
3
Incorrect calibration? Maintenance used outdated procedure.
4
Outdated procedure? Document update not distributed.
5
Not distributed? No automated revision notification.
Root Cause
Maintenance procedure revision not distributed to technicians after process update
Corrective Action
Implement automated document distribution with mandatory read-receipt for all process-critical procedures
Preventive Action
Deploy revision control system with automated notification and acknowledgment tracking for all maintenance SOPs.
Identify
Analyze
Correct
Prevent

The same problems kept returning

You fixed it last month. And the month before that. The corrective action was "retrain the operator" and everyone moved on. But the problem came back, because nobody dug deep enough to find the real cause.

Now problems stay solved

TeamGuru's structured 5-Why workflows guide teams past surface-level answers to genuine root causes. Every root cause generates corrective and preventive actions with mandatory effectiveness verification. When verification confirms it worked, the problem is closed for good.

Guided 5-Why with branching
Pareto shows what matters most
Verified corrective actions
Recurrence rates tracked

Better together

The Root Cause & Actions module works on its own, but gets even better connected to the rest of TeamGuru.

Quality Alerts

Quality incidents trigger RCCA workflows automatically with full problem context carried over.

Action Lists

Corrective actions flow into the central action system with full traceability to the original problem.

Metric Dashboards

Track RCCA completion rates, time to root cause, and recurrence rates on quality dashboards.

8D Reports

Root cause analysis feeds directly into the 8D report structure for customer-facing responses.

Common questions

Is the 5-Why analysis configurable? +
Yes. You can configure the minimum and maximum number of "why" levels, require evidence at each level, and enable branching for problems with multiple contributing causes.
Can we use Ishikawa (fishbone) diagrams? +
The current focus is on 5-Why and Pareto analysis. Fishbone diagrams are on the product roadmap and will be added as a complementary visualization tool.
How do we ensure corrective actions are actually effective? +
The module includes a mandatory effectiveness verification step. After the corrective action is implemented and a monitoring period passes, the system prompts the owner to confirm the problem has not recurred.
Can we link multiple incidents to the same root cause? +
Yes. When a new incident has the same root cause as a previous one, you can link them together. This also surfaces when a supposedly "solved" problem keeps recurring.
Who can initiate a root cause analysis? +
Any team member can initiate an RCCA. You can also configure automatic triggers from quality alerts, customer complaints, or KPI threshold breaches.

See Root Cause & Actions in action

Book a personalized demo and see how TeamGuru handles Root Cause & Actions for teams like yours.