Problem Solving - AllAboutLean.com

The History of the Eight Disciplines Problem Solving (8D)

August 21, 2025July 8, 2025 by Christoph Roser

One popular approach to problem solving is the eight disciplines problem solving, or 8D for short (even though they are now 9D). This is an alternative to the Toyota Practical Problem Solving. I slightly prefer the Toyota approach over the 8D approach developed by Ford, but the 8D also has its advantages. Since it focuses more on urgent quality issues, it has a bigger emphasis on quick reaction and containment plans, but in my view falls a bit short on the Check and Act of the PDCA. I will talk more about the 8D in my next post. But first let’s look at the history of the 8D problem solving, starting with the infamous Ford Pinto fuel tank issue…

Asking Man—Machine—Material—Method… and Then Some… for the Toyota Practical Problem Solving

October 11, 2025June 24, 2025 by Christoph Roser

In my last post, I looked at the questions What—When—Where—Why—Who—How… and Then Some… for the Toyota Practical Problem Solving. In this post I will look into another, similar structure that could also be used, namely Man—Machine—Material—Method, again with quite a few possible expansions and alternatives. This can be used both to structure the problem (i.e., a root cause analysis) or to break down the problem into smaller, more manageable pieces.

Asking What—When—Where—Why—Who—How… and Then Some… for the Toyota Practical Problem Solving

August 21, 2025June 17, 2025 by Christoph Roser

The Toyota Practical Problem Solving is a very structured approach to solve problems. The underlying PDCA is broken down into multiple steps, where the “Plan” part especially is divided into Clarify the Problem, Break Down the Problem, Set a Target, and a Root-Cause Analysis. In this post I will look at the What—When—Where—Why—Who—How structure, also known as the 5W1H, that can help you when clarifying the problem. This structure was used in journalism starting around 1913, but may originate from Greek antiquity. It is also a useful structure for problem solving.

On the Importance of Deep Dives

August 21, 2025February 18, 2025 by Christoph Roser

To manage your shop floor, or maybe even improve it, you need to understand it. Yet, the complexity of modern manufacturing makes it all but impossible to truly understand the system and all its aspects and correlations, and the whole mess that we call “unintended consequences.” Hence, you need occasional deep dives in addition to the big-picture view. In this blog post, I will talk more about deep dives. Let’s… ahem… go diving…

Toyota Practical Problem Solving (PPS)—Monitor and Share

August 21, 2025December 26, 2023 by Christoph Roser

Practical Problem Solving Illustration Box

This post of my series on Practical Problem Solving (PPS) looks at what to do after you have done the “Do” part of PDCA. Yes, that’s right, after implementing the solutions you are not done yet. You need to monitor the outcome to see whether it has actually achieved the target you set much earlier. Here, the next steps can go into two directions. This would be the “Check” of PDCA. If you have not yet achieved the target… well… then you are not yet done and need to keep on working on the problem. If you have achieved the target, congratulations! Now share the wisdom with others. This is the “Act” of PDCA. Let me explain in more detail.

Toyota Practical Problem Solving (PPS)—Countermeasures and Implement

August 21, 2025December 19, 2023 by Christoph Roser

Practical Problem Solving Illustration Wrench

In this post of my series on the Toyota Practical Problem Solving (PPS), we finally get to the part many were excitedly waiting for—the development of countermeasures and their implementation. Some people like this part of actually doing the improvement (and hence finally the “Do” part of PDCA) so much that they skip the “Plan” part almost entirely. Don’t do that! Properly prepare and analyze before implementing a countermeasure. Without the plan, the countermeasure may be flawed.

Toyota Practical Problem Solving (PPS)—Targets and Root Causes

August 21, 2025December 12, 2023 by Christoph Roser

Practical Problem Solving Target Root Cause Analysis

In the previous posts on this series of the Toyota Practical Problem Solving (PPS) I went into detail on how to understand the problem by clarifying the problem and breaking it down to get the prioritized problem. In this post I will look at target setting and root-cause analysis. Setting the target and doing the root-cause analysis is still the “Plan” part of PDCA. Only in my next post with the development of countermeasures do we get to the next step of “Do.”

Toyota Practical Problem Solving (PPS)—Clarify

August 21, 2025December 5, 2023 by Christoph Roser

Practical Problem Solving Magnifying Glass

In my last post I introduced the Toyota Practical Problem Solving approach (PPS) and gave an overview how it is rooted in PDCA and often used in the form of an A3. Now let’s dig deeper and go into the details of the individual steps. The first is to clarify the problem. The second is to break down and stratify the problem—to try to understand the problem better by looking at it from different angles, preferably using data. In my next post I will talk about target setting.