Lean manufacturing · Kaizen
The PDCA cycle: the order behind Kaizen
Plan, do, check, act. Where each step of the cycle sits in an improvement record.
13 October 2026 · 1 min
Fishbone and 5 Whys: getting to the root cause
Two basic tools for fixing the cause instead of the symptom. When to use which, and how to use them together.
8 October 2026 · 1 min read
Fixing a problem by its first visible cause guarantees it will come back. Root-cause analysis means taking the “why?” question deep enough.
Fishbone (Ishikawa)
The problem is written at the fish's head; the bones are groups of possible causes: people, machine, method, material, measurement and environment. The team writes possible causes under each. The aim is not to lock onto one cause too early.
5 Whys
The most likely cause from the fishbone is chosen and “why?” is asked repeatedly. Five is a reminder, not a rule: stop when the answer reaches a system gap (standard, training, design).
Linking to action
Root-cause work is done inside a CAPA, complaint or OHS incident record; the action against the cause closes with evidence rules and its effectiveness is verified later.
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