8D Training Course, Eight Disciplines Training

8D Training Course, Eight Disciplines Training

8D training course provides the methodology usually used by quality engineers to determine, correct, and eliminate repeating problems as a step towards the product and process improvement.

History of 8D

It was the Ford Motor Company who first initiated the 8D Problem Solving Process, in 1987, as the “Team Oriented Problem Solving (TOPS).” Then, in the 90s, Ford supplemented it with an additional discipline, D0: Plan. Thus, the whole process is now Ford’s global standard, called Global 8D.

While the 8D was first used only in the auto, manufacturing, engineering, and aerospace industries, it’s now being used broadly in any industry, even including the medical.

What is 8D?

The 8D, standing for the 8 Disciplines, is a form of problem solving method. It is a systematic and efficient scientific approach for resolving persistent and recurring problems.

The 8D method takes advantage of the team synergy and offers outstanding strategies to identify the root cause of the problem, implement containment actions, derive and then implement corrective and preventive action plans to get rid of the problem permanently.

The 8D’s are:

1. Identify the problem
2. Use a team approach/form an 8D team
3. Describe the problem
4. Interim containment
5. Define the root cause(s)
6. Develop solution(s)
7. Implement the solution(s)
8. Prevent recurrence
9. Congratulate the team

Although 8Ds are effective in most cases, there are some scenarios in which 8Ds won’t work:

• Non-recurring problems or problems quickly solvable by individual effort
• Problems with already identified root causes
• Making a decision between different alternatives
• Problems which the simplest and most recognizable solution is likely to be the best or suitable solution

Why Team Approach Matters?

• A team can achieve more compared to the individual efforts in solving problems
• A group of people can interact and think creatively
• Group brainstorming can inspire new ideas that will provide a better view to the problem.

Discipline 0: Plan

Prior you start forming a team to investigate the problem, you would need to plan ahead what method you want to take and how you want to apply it. This includes thinking about who will be on the team, what your time frame is, and what resources you’ll need.

Discipline 1: Build the Team

All the team members should have the skills required to solve the problem, and time and energy to commit to the problem solving process.

Always remember that an interdisciplinary team is more likely to succeed to achieve a creative solution compared to a homogenous team of people with the same outlook.

Create team agreement that summarizes the team’s objectives and identifies each person’s role. Also, start building trust to get everyone engaged in the process.

Before starting the process, ensure that your team is comfortable with working together if this is their first time doing so.

Discipline 2: Describe the Problem

Once your team is ready to start, explain the problem in detail. Be specific about the who, what, when, where, why, how, and how many.

Start by Risk Analysis. If the problem is a serious threat to safety and health of people, then you must take quick, appropriate action.

In this stage, the primary goal is to explore what’s going wrong, and to make sure that your team fully comprehends the full extent of the problem.

Discipline 3: Implement a Temporary Fix

Now that your team understands the problem, it’s time to explore the resolutions including a temporary fix. This is especially crucial if the problem is hurting customers, negatively affecting product quality, or slowing down work processes.

Collect the knowledge of everyone on the team by using brainstorming.

Once the group has determined temporary fixes, you can move on to the issues such as cost, implementation time, and relevancy. The short-term solution should be quick, easy to implement, and worth the effort.

Discipline 4: Identify and Eliminate the Root Cause

Now that you have got your temporary fix is in place, it’s time to investigate the root cause of the problem.

Execute a cause-and-effect analysis to explore the likely causes of the problem. This approach is particularly useful because it allows you to discover many possible causes, and it can underline other problems that you may not have been thought of. Thereafter, employ root cause analysis process to find the root causes of the problems you’ve detected.

When you find the source of the problem, then you can go ahead and develop permanent solutions for it.

Tools to be used:

• Pareto Charts
• 5-Whys Process
• Statistical Analysis
• Regression Analysis
• Flow Charts
• Affinity Diagram
• Fishbone Diagram
• ANOVA
• Hypothesis Testing Audits
• Brainstorming Session
• Fault Tree Analysis
• DOE
• GR&R
• FMEA

Discipline 5: Verify the Solution

After your team all agreed on a permanent solution, ensure that you evaluate it completely before you fully implement it, in the next step.

Standards for choosing the best solution:

• Practical
• Feasible
• Cost effective
• Robust
• Management should have complete trust and provide full support to Permanent Corrective Actions and facilitate their implementation

Discipline 6: Implement a Permanent Solution

Monitor the new solution very carefully for efficient amount of time to be sure that it functions as it is intent to, and ensure that there are no unexpected side effects.

Discipline 7: Prevent the Problem From Recurring

In this step, your team requires to develop a plan including all the proactive actions to prevent the problem from recurring in the future.

This might require changing, updating, and modifying your organization’s standards, policies, procedures, or training manual to reflect the new fix. You’ll likely also need to train others on the new process or standard. Eventually, you’ll require considering whether to change your management practices or procedures to prevent recurrence.

Discipline 8: Celebrate Team Success

The last but not least is to celebrate and reward your team’s success. It’s important to thank everyone involved, and be precise about how each person’s hard work has made a difference.

It is also crucial to conduct a “post-implementation review” to evaluate if your solution is working as you planned, and to enhance the way that you solve problems in the future.

The 8D and FMEA

FMEA, Failure Modes and Effect Analysis, is applied in the product or process design/plan. The problem identification or description in the 8D method is equivalent to the “failure modes” in FMEA, and the causes in FMEA are compared to the same, i.e. potential causes, in the 8D process. Effects of failure in the FMEA method should be compared to the problem symptoms in the 8D.

The 8D process relates to FMEA as follows:

• The problem statements and descriptions are connected
• An 8D is a faster method when using information from a FMEA to solve problems
• Possible causes in a FMEA can be used to boost the start of the brainstorming step.
• In reverse, the data gathered during an 8D can be used in a FMEA for future planning of new product or process quality. This enables a FMEA to reflect real failures, happening as failure modes and causes, resulting in more efficient and thorough FMEA.
• Corrective Action in an 8D can take advantage of the design or process controls in a FMEA to verify the root cause.
• The FMEA and 8D should unite each failure and cause by exchanging documents and data associated with failure modes, problem statements and possible causes. Each FMEA can be utilized as resource for data of possible causes of failure as an 8D is built.

Post 8D

Once the problem has been resolved, the team should publish and release a final report along with lessons learned.

• The 8D report gives a brief view of what has been done in the project and classifies them under the 8 Disciplines
• The report offers a communication tool demonstrating an overall progress of the 8D project together with actions taken
• Presenting the “Lessons Learned” and project outcomes
• Completed 8Ds to be posted on the shared quality site (under 8D reports)

How Can You Learn more about 8D?

You can check out our 8D training course HERE.

8D Training