Root Cause Analysis in Supply Chain

Root cause analysis is a structured investigation that identifies the underlying cause of a failure so the fix prevents recurrence.

Supply chain problems repeat because organisations treat symptoms. Root cause work is what makes improvement permanent.

Repeated stockouts traced not to forecast error but to a purchase order approval step adding nine days to replenishment.

If your corrective action is expedite, communicate or be more careful, you have not reached a root cause.

Use Pareto to pick the problem, five whys and fishbone to find the cause, then verify with data and confirm recurrence stopped.

Stopping at the first plausible explanation, usually the one that blames another department.