The Relation Between Problem Solving and Day StartBesides the Daily Tier there's a counterpart that is as important: the PDCA tier.
It ensures that all initiated improvements are monitored over time.
This picture shows the relation between the Daily Tier and the PDCA Tier. Every day simple problems are handled at the Daily Tier level. Since no root cause investigation is needed, the follow up is monitored on the Tier board.
Deviations that do require a root cause investigation are transferred to the PDCA board. These problems need to be weighed against other deviations before they are addressed and will require more energy to be solved. More energy means: more people to investigate, perhaps support from Lean experts, longer L/T, etc.
Problems that are even bigger, Green Belt and Black Belt projects, are outside the scope of this article. They have their own approach ( i.e. DMAIC) and tools to monitor the progress of the projects (i.e. Gantt charts, sponsor-agent meetings).
This picture show below is a standard PDCA Tier board.
It shows the deviations that have not yet been addressed, phases that the active root cause investigations are in, and an overview (# active, # solved YTD)
Visiting this board regularly (weekly) will ensure the progress of the root cause investigations.
The intent is to help the lead of every root cause investigation, when needed.
PDCA Improvement Board
Lean Advanced