a3 a typical problem solving technique which is nothing but a structured
problem solving a methodology and a continuous improvement approach
which was first employed at toyota and typically used by lean manufacturing practitioners
it basically diagnoses the situation so that you can focus on your problems and not just its
symptoms let us understand more about what is a3 and how do we construct an a3 report
so without wasting any further time let's start our today's video on a3 problem solving technique
so in this video we are going to look at what is a3 and how it is used as a systematic
problem solving tool we look at its origin its history why a3 why not a4 or a5 and what is the
linkage between a3 and pdca we also look at a different stages of a3 problem solving technique
and finally we also look at how the a3 format looks like and how do you fill this a3 format
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so what is this a3 report so before understanding this a3 reporter how to fill it let us understand
this concept of a3 problem solving technique so a3 is basically a problem solving methodology
that was created in japan by toyota as a part of toyota production system it is associated
with a lean manufacturing and is used for countries improvement efforts at many workplaces
in short it provides a simple and a logical way to solve a problem
and then communicate the same information about the problem to the other co-workers
a three problem solving can be nicely mapped with different phases of pdca that is a plan do
check and act so what's the story behind this a3 on the name of a3 why not a4 or a5 or a2
so the term a3 is derived from european paper size that is about the same size as an american 11
inch by 17 inch or a b size paper now using an a3 method team can create a one page improvement
project report on a3 by limiting the report to one page the team are more focused to be concise
and be thoughtful about including only relevant information on that report
so this makes the report easy to digest and make it relevant to the other stakeholders a3 format
is typically used by twitter as a template for three different types of report problem solving
project status report and proposals in this video we have focused on the problem solving report
simply because it is most basic style and making it the best starting point for our tutorial so
how does a3 problem solving methodology map with different phases of pdca cycle
for this first we need to look at all the stages of a3 problem solving methodology and
all the steps that are involved the first step that is involved here is background
and identifying the problem or a need that is we need to select an issue that you want to resolve
first probably state how this issue impact your business your customer your process
and of course your bottom line next the team should break down or further define the problem
you can ask relevant questions using the 5w 1s technique that is what when where who why and how
next step is to understand the current situation
of the problem under consideration so the problem can only be addressed by understanding the current
situation with the help of visual depictions toyota indicates that it is important to
determine the extent of the problem next step is to develop a goal statement smart goal statement
the goal should be specific measurable realistic achievable and timely bound
you can map out what exact goals you want to accomplish then you need to perform a root cause
analysis now conducting a thorough analysis as to what might be causing this particular
issue or a problem by finding out what causes the problem you can take some measures against
that the main cause can be identified by any of the root cause techniques like fishbone or 5i
so once you have identified the root cause now it is time to take some counter measures
the underlying cause can be properly addressed by using
these counter measures these are the steps that you are going to take to make necessary
changes by making sure that you are addressing the root cause you have found and not the symptom
next is the implementation phase this is your well thought out workable plan includes a list of
actions that needs to be done so that the counter measures can be take place and improvement can
be obtained then we have this follow-up plan so the follow-up plan will check whether the
changes in the adjustment will actually yield the best results or not this is to make sure that the
target goal was met and check on it on a regular basis to make sure that our target has been met
evaluate the results so measure the results and make sure that you hit your goal if you haven't
hit right now only by means of evaluation it is possible to determine whether the final
results can be achieved or not when there are deviations it is important to find out what
is causing these deviations and subsequently the changes in the adaptations will have to
take place in the process so that the goal will still be achieved the last step is to standardize
and improve so during this phase of a3 the team should take actions to standardize the process
changes or improvements the team must update all the standard work work instructions and the
process control plans the management team should also promote continuous improvement of using this
a3 tool within the organization so your goal is to then repeat the implementation plan until your
goal is met now let us map this with pdca cycle so these four five phases of initial steps are under
plan phase then we have the implementation that is the do phase follow-up and evaluation comes under
check and standardization is the act phase so this is how you map pdca with a3 problem solving steps
now that we have seen this uh a3 problem solving steps now it's time to look at the
sample a3 format so uh assuming that this is a three layout and here we'll define who is
preparing this report and the date here at the top then we will define the background
as in what is impacting your business right now your customer or your process so you will
define all the detailed background over here and then what is the current situation over there
then what is your goal in the target statement so you will define all your
goals make sure it is the smart code that you are defining here
then you need to do some root cause analysis and you can use the fish bone diagram or the five wire
technique to come to the root cause then you need to come up with some action or recommendations so
it could have multiple recommendations so keep all your recommendations open at this point of time
and if you have any specific questions you can leave your comments in the comment section
below then we have the implementation plan how you're going to implement this recommendations
and finally what's your follow-up plan so this way we will define the how to create an a3 report
so that is why we say that a3 is a single page document which reflect the result of whole process
and everything can be available to the end customer user in the single document so if
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