How can we be sure our efforts to correct deficiencies are going to derive value for our organization? How many times have we carried out a root cause analysis only for the same problem to pop up somewhere else—obviously, we didn’t address all of the causes. The physical ones, we’re pretty good at, but when it comes to systemic problems, we consistently miss out. Even worse is when we spend a lot of effort solving an issue only to find that it didn’t amount to much. Do we fully understand that our area of focus is the right one? Why is it many times we deal with symptoms and wonder why the problems recur. What is preventing us from dealing with the true causes of our problems? In this session we’ll look at tools that will point us in the right direction and figure out how we can develop them. We’ll look at the standard approaches to arriving at root cause and some that don’t work. Identifying systemic causes seems to provide the best results—why, and why don’t we bother to reach them? Finally, we’ll find the link between a horse’s rear end and the Space Shuttle Challenger, because if we can’t understand the links right in front of us, adding value may be impossible.
Cliff Williams is the author of the bestselling maintenance novel People: A Reliability Success Story. He’s a maintenance educator and a keynote speaker at conferences around the world who believes success is achieved through people. Currently, Cliff enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience as a facilitator of PEMAC’s Asset Management Certificate Program and as an advisor on M&R for People and Processes, Inc. He is also the corporate maintenance manager with ERCO Worldwide, a Canadian chemical producer.
