Quality
5 Whys
five whys
TL;DR
Root-cause analysis technique — repeatedly ask 'why?' until you hit a systemic cause, not a symptom. Usually 4–6 iterations, not literally five.
5 Whys is the simplest structured root-cause tool — popularised by Toyota. You start at the observed problem and ask 'why did that happen?' until the answer points to a systemic cause (procedure, training, equipment, design) rather than a person-blame. Pairs well with fishbone (Ishikawa) diagrams for complex problems.
V5 prompts 5-Whys structure inside every NCR / deviation, so the root cause isn't 'operator error' (which is a finding, not a cause).
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