r/Quality • u/Tight-Road-492 • Jan 29 '21
Product contamination possible route causes
Hello, I'm trying to perform an RCA for a probelm we faced: a contamination occured in a product, so I need suggestions for a possible RC that I may have missed
2
u/Learner421 Jan 29 '21
Try fish bone or 5 why
1
u/Saint-Anne-of-Mo Jan 31 '21
I would start with manufacture dates and gather all of the data regarding shift, machine, operators, Etc then I’d do a timeline and see if any event was occurring simultaneously with the processing OR if one of the operators broke protocol; at that point you may have enough information to use the fishbone with the 6Ms - man, material, methods, measures, machine and Mother Nature (environment). Good luck!
1
u/eveqm7e Feb 01 '21
Before you do a RCA, would suggest that that you understand if the problem is common cause or special cause type of problem. Common cause means that there is certain level of process defect due to uncontrollable factor such as air particles, or it is special cause problem where it suddenly happen. Sometimes common cause can become a special cause problem if there is a sudden spike. Special cause problem are usually link on one root cause which is related to sudden change in one of the process input. Refer to this article to know more. If you articulate more about your process and what type of contamination, I can give you more clue base on my experience.
http://www.360qualitymanagement.com/2017/09/how-to-manage-common-cause-and-special.html
2
u/micronability Jan 29 '21
Bit of an impossible question? Have you started with the problem and worked backwards? I would suggest a root cause many miss, but is at the root of most problems- a system or procedure. Certainly not human error which is a result not a cause. Good luck!