🎯 Stop patching — start solving problems for good!

When a defect escapes production and lands directly with your customers, the consequences can be painful : claims, returns, loss of trust… even a production line stoppage.

And yet, these errors are rarely a fatality.

The difference is not about luck, but about method. And spoiler alert: this method is structured problem solving.

👉 When quality is endured, it becomes costly! 👉 When it is managed, it becomes a lever for profitability!

⚡️ Why eliminating non-conformities is vital

Ignoring or poorly addressing a non-conformity is like patching a water leak with tape: it holds… until the next disaster.

Every unresolved problem is:

• A risk of repetition (often worse)

• A cost burden (rework, scrap, transport, penalties)

• A source of tension with your customers

• A drain on your team's moral

👉 Meanwhile, your Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) grows… and your profitability takes a hit.

In an industrial SME, every euro spent on fixing mistakes could have been used to innovate, hire, or invest.

🚀 Solving problems: a matter of method, not complexity

No need for an army of Lean Six Sigma black belts.

You can make progress with simple tools, well used, and above all… used consistently.

Let’s start with weak signals: turnbacks

The “turnbacks” are all small deviations, adjustments, reworks… that we do not address “because that’s just how it is.”

• 🔧 A part reworked instead of right first time

• 🚞 A component replaced with no quality alert

• 🛠 A control redone quietly because “it seemed strange”

🤜 All these deviations are signals of non-performance.

Listing them, making them visible, and especially analyzing them is the first step toward progress.

Every time a problem is handled without root cause analysis, it is a missed learning opportunity.

Key tools to get started

Here are some simple yet powerful tools to implement. You’ll see, it’s mostly common sense:

🔧 5W1H (Systematic for every identified non-conformity)

Who? What? Where? When? How? Why?

The framing tool to state the problem without interpretation. It allows you to start from a factual, clear, shared description.

🔧 The 5 Whys (Systematic for all significant deviations)

We are looking for the root cause, not just the symptom.

We often stop too early (“Someone forgot”). But why? And why again?...

It’s the tool of depth.

🔧 Ishikawa Diagram / 6M (When the 5 Whys are not enough)

Structure your thinking around 6 cause categories: Environment, Method, Material, Manpower, Machine, Measurement

It’s the tool that widens the collective analysis and avoids jumping to conclusions.

These tools are accessible to everyone. And importantly: they are the building blocks of the 8D method, a more robust approach for critical problems.

⚖️ Switch to 8D mode for critical issues (Limit the number of 8Ds handled in parallel)

When a problem is more serious, repetitive, or customer-sensitive, you can switch to 8D mode:

A comprehensive method in 8 steps that takes the previous tools… and goes further:

• D1: Form a team

• D2: Describe the problem (EW1H)

• D3: Define a containment action (Quality Wall, enhanced control, sorting…)

A good containment action is immediate, simple, reversible, and visible.

• D4: Identify the root cause (5 Whys, Ishikawa)

• D5: Choose a corrective action

• D6: Implement the action

• D7: Prevent recurrence

• D8: Congratulate the team

📌 The 8D is not reserved for big corporations: use it on your most critical cases.

⚠️ The 8D is not a daily tool: better to do 2 or 3 well-executed 8Ds… than 10 half-done! Without a clear owner, they often end up unfinished or run by one person.

💡 Building a problem-solving culture

No need for a 3-year strategic plan. Start simply, on the ground:

1. Make turnbacks visible

Put a board in the workshop:

“This month: how many reworked parts? How many defects detected too late?”

Turn abstract KPIs into real-world examples :

• 💸 “Our Cost of Non-Quality = 15 destroyed iPhones this month”

• “145h spent on rework = 1 FTE lost for 1 month”

2. Launch weekly quality flashes

15 minutes team sessions each week to address deviations, learn together, without pointing fingers.

3. Train teams on the 5 Whys / 6M

2 hours on the shop floor with a real case. No slides, just real examples. Laminate a quick-reference sheet and display it visibly.

4. Create a single problem-solving sheet

A single sheet to frame, analyze, follow up and close the loop.

5. And when it’s serious… initiate an 8D

Show that your company can atackle problems like the big guys do — but faster and leaner.

🏥 Launch your "Quality Clinic"

Once the approach is well established, formalize it around a dedicated physical space, your Quality Clinic!

It becomes the central physical point where problems are addressed methodically:

• The turnbacks are displayed there

• The problems are discussed there

• The tools are used there

• The teams are trained there

• The root causes are analyzed there

A place, a ritual, a shared mindset. Make it visible and accessible to all!

📊 The right indicators to measure your progress

• Number of NC addressed with 5 Whys or 6M / month

• % of NC with containment action < 24h

• Number of reworks in the workshop / month

• Number of quality flashes conducted

• CNQ / turnover

• Number of finalized 8Ds / quarter

In conclusion

💡 Solving problems is not just ticking a box. It’s a lever for sustainable performance.

And above all: it’s within the reach of everyone, with simple tools, consistency, and a bit of method.

🔗 The Guide IndustrialOS , it’s the method that transforms suffered quality… into managed progress (https://leguide.industrialos.io)

Ready to turn your problems into progress? 🚀

👉 Starting tomorrow, print a 5W1H and a 5 Why's sheet. Display them next to your quality board. It might be the beginning of real change.