Production increased. Scrap costs rose. Month after month. The all-important RPN score in FMEA stayed the same.

Even within Six Sigma - a method built on facts - experts disagree on fundamental numbers. While they debate, we use the time to actually improve processes.

A production manager contacted me. Quality costs were high. A customer with strict requirements was extremely dissatisfied. "We've tried EVERYTHING," he said.

They worked harder. Hired more people. Worked overtime. The problem came back. Again and again. Because they never found the cause.

A quality manager reached out. They'd run a measurement system analysis on a surface roughness gauge. The spreadsheet said everything was fine. But was it?

The participants nodded at the examples. But the real learning happened when they tested it themselves and watched the variation increase with every adjustment.

Before you ask 'why', ask 'how often'.

Intuition more important than analysis? What?!

They had spreadsheets with hundreds of measurements. And kept getting non-conformances. Again and again.

"We need better suppliers." "We need more staff in production." "Our ordering system is outdated." The solutions were clear... But did they agree on the problem?

They took 600 samples per year chasing process problems. Then they discovered the issue was the measurement system.

Your brain searches for answers to the questions you ask. Ask the wrong questions, and you'll keep solving the wrong problems.