What is Problem Solving?

Teamcenter Problem Solving allows you to capture the issues in a central location. It provides tools to find the root cause of the issue and its resolution (corrective action) and prevent their recurrence in future (preventive action). Issues are various forms of complaints, defects, and non-conformances that inconvenience customers. They need to document, and as necessary, resolve these issues. A very common method of solving issues is through a formal problem-solving process, such as Corrective Action and Preventive Action (CAPA) and Eight Disciplines of Problem Solving (8D). This is a systematic investigation of discrepancies (complaints, defects, failures, and deviations) to permanently solve the root cause and to prevent their recurrence.

Example

Consider a scenario where the wiper blade in a car is not working correctly. There might be multiple reasons for this issue, such as:

• The wiper blade was not fixed properly to the wiper arm.

• The width of the wiper blade is not proportionate to the wiper arm.

• The dimensions of the wiper blade and wiper arm were not considered during the design process.

• Poor quality raw material was used during the manufacturing process.

Using Problem Solving, in Teamcenter, you can record the wiper blade issue and create the containment actions to be taken to stop the production of the faulty wiper blade.

You can mark the root causes of the faulty wiper blade, such as poor-quality raw material use, and the dimensions of the wiper blade and wiper arm not being considered during the design process.

Additionally, you can specify the corrective actions to be performed, such as updating the dimensions of these parts and purchasing good quality raw material.

Finally, you can identify a preventive action to stop future issues, such as performing a Design FMEA process for the wiper assembly.

Where do I go from here?

Installer	To know which features are required to install Problem Solving, see Install Problem Solving and Quality Issue.
Administrator	To configure Problem Solving according to your business requirements, see Configure Problem Solving and Quality Issue.
Business User
How can I get started with Problem Solving in Teamcenter?	You can start by creating a Problem Solving process and adding a problem description defect.
After creating the Problem Solving process, what are the next steps in Teamcenter?	You can define the Problem Solving process containment actions as a next step, after recording a problem.
What are the different methodologies supported by Teamcenter Problem Solving for performing a root cause analysis?	In Teamcenter, you can perform a root cause analysis by using any of the following: Ishikawa methodology 5Whys methodology Creating and analyzing the defects that cause the problem
Create a corrective action plan.	You can create a corrective action plan to resolve the problem.
Stop recurrence of the problem.	You can define the preventive actions that stop the recurrence of the problem identified using the Problem Solving process.