5 Why's Tool

The 5 Why’s tool

The conflict that I am going to concentrate on and analyze through the “5 Whys” tool involves a situation at work, where a gas analyzer was becoming unstable when flowing gasses through it. The analyzer uses bottled air sent from a gas lab into the analyzer and provides a certain “parts per million” (ppm) ratio in order to determine other gas ratios through elimination. These bottles are sent sealed and have a certain ppm ratio of gasses that is used for a reference point to read emissions gasses. The analyzer is not new to the building, but the control room where the gas lines that are running to the analyzer, is.

During emissions testing, the analyzer will take pre and post span and zero reads to ensure the analyzer is taking accurate readings, where the bottled gas would fill the lines (span) and deplete the lines (zero). The zero reading confirms that there are no leaks in the system by emptying the line and meeting pressure regulations and ppm readings on the line. The span gas is flowed through the line and must be a stable pressurized flow as well as be within a set limit of ppm in order to get consistently accurate readings.

The problem that was abruptly brought about, was the span gas pre and post checks on the analyzer would become unstable, but the zeros

We decided to create two for this problem. One counter measure was to include the spanning of the gas for 10-15 minutes into a part of the standardized work flow for that particular site. The second counter measure involved tracking tests on that site to confirm that the problem was really solved. We tracked tests on that site through a reporting chart that was placed on our Business Deployment Board where our weekly meetings are held. This enabled us to closely watch for any problems on the site and ensure that our solution was successful. The problem was considered resolved after monitoring the site for two