'X' Marks
A new twist on an established
quality concept
Follow lines of evidence using an L-shaped matrix
The Spot
Often, a quality engineer performing a root cause anal-
ysis (RCA) is confronted with multiple observations that
may or may not be related to the issue under investiga-
tion. To determine whether the observations are relevant,
the quality engineer should form a hypothesis or hypothe-
ses that attempt to explain the observations.
By themselves, individual observations may not directly
lead to the root cause of an issue. But looking at which
hypothesis is supported by multiple observations can prove
advantageous. This is known as following lines of evidence.
Following separate lines of evidence may lead to the root
cause of an issue.1 Getting a clear picture of how individual
observations relate to the current hypothesis can be difficult,
but there is a quality tool that can help: an L-shaped matrix.
An L-shaped matrix is used to identify the relationship
between two groups of information and can be used to
record observations and hypotheses when attempting to
follow lines of evidence.
TA B L E 1
L-shaped matrix
Hypothesis 1: Hypothesis 2: Hypothesis 3:
Observation Wrong part Damaged Handling
tooling damage
Length 17.2 +/- 0.1 is 17.4 X X
Scratches and dents
Chemical properties not OK X cause and effect diagram and the matrix 2. Nancy R. Tague, The
Rubber residues on surface
Impact damage
In The Quality Toolbox, Nancy R. Tague uses a matrix
to show the relationship between customer requirements
and four different customers. 2 Using such a matrix makes it
easy to identify requirements common to all customers.
The same tool can be used for RCA by listing obser-
vations related to the failure in the left-hand column of
the matrix and the competing root cause hypotheses in
the top row, as shown in Table 1. The individual observa-
tions can be viewed as evidence, which can help identify
hypotheses that are best explained by this evidence. If an
observation supports one or more of the hypotheses, an
64 QP August 2017 qualityprogress.com
by Matthew Barsalou
X is placed in the corresponding cell of the matrix.
The quality engineer performing the RCA should be
aware that some observations may not be relevant to the
issue at hand. For example, a measurement may be iden-
tified as out of specification. But does this measurement
have anything to do with the failure under investigation?
If not, a different RCA and different corrective actions are
necessary, and the unrelated deviation should be handled
separately.
There also may be observations that contradict a root
cause hypothesis. If all measurements are identified as in
specification, for example, the hypothesis measurement
deviation would be ruled out. In such situations, it may be
helpful to identify such contradictions in the matrix with an
O to indicate the hypothesis is incorrect.
An incorrect hypothesis should not be seen as a bad
thing. Disproving an incorrect hypothesis means the team
will no longer be investigating a dead end, which frees time
and resources to investigate other hypotheses.
A matrix works well together with a cause and effect
diagram. The first step is to list all observations in the
matrix. Next, brainstorm potential causes and list those
in the cause and effect diagram. Prioritize investigation
actions by identifying the hypotheses in REFERENCES
the cause and effect diagram that best 1. Matthew A. Barsalou,
explain the failure under investigation One Good Idea: Its
Elementary, Quality
based on the observations. The top Progress, October
X hypothesis is entered in the matrix. The 2015, p. 79.
Quality Toolbox,
X should be updated as new data are gen- second edition, ASQ
erated during the investigation. Quality Press, 2004.
X
Matthew Barsalou is a statistical problem
resolution Master Black Belt at BorgWarner
Turbo Systems Engineering GmbH in
Kirchheimbolanden, Germany. He has a
masters degree in business administration
and engineering from Wilhelm Bchner
Hochschule in Darmstadt, Germany, and
a masters degree in liberal studies from
Fort Hays State University in Hays, KS. Barsalou is an ASQ senior
member and holds several certifications.