1. The document describes the A3 method, which is a problem-solving approach used to align issues, ideas, and countermeasures within an organization. 2. The A3 method follows a PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle and uses an A3 report format to clearly describe the current state, goals, analysis, countermeasures and plans, follow-up measures, and reviews for continuous improvement. 3. When properly implemented with a focus on fact-finding, root cause analysis, and engagement, the A3 method can help organizations make better decisions, implement solutions more effectively, and achieve business results more quickly through learning and alignment.

1. A3 Method
OSI Systems

2. Organizational Life
 It’s
about getting results
 We
have good projects, ideas, programs and
initiatives often failing to achieve the desired
results
 Most
important issues transcend functional or
departmental boundaries
 Results
can only be achieved with the help
and cooperation of others
What is organizational life like today (current-state)?

3. Is there line outside your office?

“The problem is we need the new software
upgrade to be Movex compliant”

“We need to upgrade the machines with
quick-change tooling as part of our lean
implementation”

Our competitor has reduced prices and we
need this sales promotion to prevent losing
market share”
With all the issues today how do get them aligned?

4. A Lot of Good Ideas
 “I
think we should increase
new product development to
beat the competition”
 “I
think we should outsource
more to China to reduce our
costs”
 “I
think we should trim the product line to get
rid of the low margin, low runners”
With all the good ideas today how do get them aligned?

5. So Many Solutions!

“We need to implement lean
to reduce waste and improve
efficiency”

“We need a new supply
chain initiative to buy more
from low cost countries and
reduce cost from current
suppliers”

We need to do 80/20 analysis to weed out low margin
business
With all the good solutions today how do get them aligned?

6. How Do We Get Aligned?
A3 is a problem solving approach
intended to align the issues, ideas
and countermeasures

7. A3 Discipline (key concepts)

States the issue and why it is important

Provides background to facilitate understanding

Current performance and future goals

Analysis and root cause

Countermeasures and action plans

Measurement and adjustment
P
D
C
A

8. Three Keys to Lean Leadership
 Go
See – Management must spent time on the
front lines
 Ask
Why – Use the “Why?” technique daily
 Show
Respect – Respect your people. Let the
people solve the problem. Not management.
A3 should change the way we manage and think

9. The A3 Management Discipline
A3 (PDCA) Story Board
Heading
Hypothesis
Try
Do
11”
Grasp the
situation
Plan
Check
Footnotes
Act
Reflect
Adjust
17”
Cycles of learning and continuous work process improvement
Notice the Planning section is large (focus on the plan (not the solution))

10. A Format for Planning and Proposing – A3

“A3” is just a paper size (international 11” X 17”)

A3 planning began in the 60s as the Quality Circle
problem solving report-out format

At Toyota, it evolved to become the standard format
for problem solving proposals, plans and status
reviews

What is important is not the format, but rather the
process and thinking behind it
Again…A3 should be a way of thinking

11. An A3 is a PDCA Story Board
(not a form, not even a standardized format)

Adjust for the type of story being told (quality problem versus
company strategy)

Always the four steps of Plan, Do, Check and Act/Adjust

No exact or specific look or format

The more visual the better (pictures, charts, no small print)

Fits on one page (use baby A3s for complicated stories)

Must flow as a story (visual story teller)

12. A3 Process – The Scientific Method
Forces individuals to:

Observe reality - “go see”

Presents facts

Proposed working countermeasures designed to achieve a stated
goal

Gain agreement

Develop a plan for success

Follow-up with a process of checking and adjusting for actual
results
Toyota does not use the term solution. Countermeasures are thought to be
experiments

13. A3s Work at Different Levels

Individuals use A3 thinking to propose projects, take
initiative, show ownership, sell ideas, gain agreement
and learn

Managers use A3 to coach and teach, assign clear
responsibility, ownership and accountability, get good
plans from subordinates and mentor employees

An organization uses A3 thinking to get decisions
made, to achieve objectives, to get things done, to
align people and teams along common goals and to
learn
Forcan be used as a visual out & used toof a 50 other departments
A3 is also used as a reportcan beinsteadprocess page PowerPoint
middle managers - A3 check of the engage

14. The A3 Process

It fosters dialogue within the organization

It develops thinking problem solvers

It encourages front-line initiative

It encourages PDCA

It clarifies the link between true problems and countermeasures

It serves as an organizational learning tool

It leads to results through effective countermeasures and
solutions based on facts, data and analysis

15. PDCA & A3s

PDCA is the process to plan improvements and learn
one’s way to successful implementation

PDCA thinking is used to propose and manage
changes as experiments

A3 Storyboards are used to prepare and present the
business case for proposed changes and/or
countermeasures to problems

A3 process proactively seeks input and feedback to
align proposed changes with priorities throughout the
organization

16. PDCA Cycle of Learning for Results
…and Grasp, Plan & TEST Again
ADJUST
(The theory for
better or
sustained
results)
REFLECT
(Analysis of the
what and why of
the results)
GRASP the
SITUATION
ACT
CHECK
PLAN
DO
Observations of what is happening & why
HYPOTHESIS
(a theory of why it is
happening and what
will “fix” it))
TRY
(Actions planned
and implemented
to test the theory)

17. Typical A3 Layout
Date, Team, Business Unit, Author
Title What is this A3 is about
Recommendations
What is the standard of performance?
The countermeasures being proposed and the
logic behind them (how they impact the root
cause)
What is the history/context for this story?
Plan
Current Situation
Action plan complete with Who, What, Where,
When of all activities
Background
What is our performance versus the standard?
What is the situation that dictates what we must do?
What are the gaps?
Goal
What performance do we want?
What objectives do we want to achieve?
Analysis
Follow-up
How will we check to see if we are getting the
desired results?
What remaining issues must we address?
What is (are) the root cause(s) of the problem
What requirements, constraints and alternatives need
to be considered?
Sign offs
Must understand what really is the problem?

18. What is the “Right” Format?
The tool needs to be flexible!

As varied as the problems

As diverse as the people who will use it

The focus needs to be on a rigorous thinking process
that leads to robust problem solving rather than a
standardized format for the “form”

19. Many Different Tools Could Be Used
Do
Plan
Check
Background
Graph
Sketch
Investigation/Current State
Tally-sheet
Histogram
Pareto Diagram
Graph
Scatter Diagram
Sketch
Control Chart
CS Map
Target, Outcomes
Chart
Sketch
Action Plan
Gantt Chart
Analysis
Cause-and-effect Fishbone
Control Chart
Relation Diagram
Histogram
Tree Diagram
Graph
Pareto Diagram
Sketch
Scatter Diagram
Countermeasures
Pareto Diagram
Graph
Sketch
Scatter Diagram
Review/Critique
FS Map
Histogram
Preventions
Chart
Sketch
Verification of Countermeasures
Graph
Chart
Sketch
Chart
Act

20. A3 Discipline

Stating the issue and why it is important

Providing background to facilitate understanding

Current performance and future goals

Analysis and root cause

Countermeasures and action plans

Measurement and adjustment

21. Does it tell a complete PDCA story?
Sample A3
Acme Stamping Steering Bracket Valve Stream Improvement
Background
Current Situation
•Production:
•Create
•18,400
Stamped-steel steering brackets (left and right hand drive).
brackets/month; daily shipments in pallets of 10 trays of 20 brackets
continuous flow in through Weld and Assembly
•Establish
Takt Time: Base the pace of work through Weld and Assembly on
customer demand
•Customer
State Street Assembly is requesting price cuts and tightening delivery
requirements
•Set
new Weld-assembly cell as pacemaker for entire value stream
Current Situation
•Establish
EPEX build schedule for stamping based on actual use of pacemaker cell
and pull steel coils from supplier based on actual usage by stamping
•Production
Lead time: 23.6 days
•Reduce
changeover time in Stamping and Weld
time: only 188 seconds
•Improve
uptime in Weld
•Processing
•Large
•Long
S
material handling routes for frequent with drawl and delivery
•Establish
changeover times: downtime in welding
new production instruction system with Leveling Box
Future State Map
Current State Map
I
•Establish
inventories of material between each process
Planning
Planning
I
W
I
W
I
A
I
A
Pacemaker
Cell
S
I
4.5 Days
Lead Time
Lead Time
23.6 Days
Deliverables
Analysis
Kaizen
Each process operates as isolated islands, disconnected from customer
Pacemaker
3 4 5 6
Responsible
Review
Assy Sup
Plt Manager
Mt’l Handling
MH Manager
C/O
Each process builds according to its own operating constraints (changeover,
downtime, etc
2
Weld
Push system; material builds up between each processes
1
Plans based on 90 and 30 day forecasts from customer. Weekly schedule for each
department. System is frequently overridden to make delivery.
Daily Delivery
Follow-up
Confirm reviews and involvement of related departments”
Goals: Improve profitability while meeting tougher customer demands:
Reduce lead time – 23.6 days to < 5 days
Reduce inventories: Stamping < 2 days / Welding – Eliminate / Shipping < 2 days
Production Control and Material Handling, Purchasing, Maintenance, Human
Resources, Finance

22. Developing an A3 – Grasping the Situation
Background & Current Situation

What is the current performance?

How does it vary from the standard?

What are the facts that you have observed?

Why is this important?

How does this relate to the purpose of the organization?

What analysis is needed to full understand the current situation?
What is the problem?
Why do we need to work on this?
Graphs & charts should Should for understanding
Avoid sellingstatements.be only background. State only the facts.
broad the solution in the be specific

23. How are We “Solving” Problems?
Good people wanting to do the right thing
and get work done, jumping to
conclusions about perceived problems
based on gut instinct and hearsay,
applying poor fixes that are doomed to
fail over the long-term.
Does this describe OSI?
Focus on understanding the problem not the solution.

24. Is the Issue Agreement?
Do we really agree on the where we want to go?
On what the gap in performance is?
Future Sate
Do we really agree on
how we will get there?
Current Sate
itio
s
an
Tr
n
lan
P
Do we really agree on the where we are? On the
current condition?

25. How Do We Get Agreement Today?
State your case more strongly than others
Force your perspective
“Meeting” people into submission
I’ve got the data
Do the “hard sell”

26. Engagement and Thinking
 Here
is how I see things what about you?
 What
am I missing?
 What
do you think?
 What
have you seen? “Gemba”
 How
can we go see together?

27. Engaging Conversations
 Candor
 Disagreement
 Informal
surface early
dialogue
 Getting
firsthand understanding
 Taking
personalities out of the process

28. A3 as Storytelling

The A3, it’s description of the issues, proposals and
plans must make sense to others

The link between the actions and the issue need to be
based on the facts of the actual situation

The story must be complete (PDCA)

Your purpose is to get agreement that leads to action
(engagement rather than convincing)
Ask the deep “why” questions. Get down to the root to get
Try to create common understanding & agreements cause good results

29. Key Questions

Have you identified the gap between the current and future state?

Did you go to the gemba – observe and talk to the people who do
the work in order to full grasp the situation?

Did you clarify the true business objective(s)?

Did you isolate the real root cause?

Did you uncover the right information to support good analysis?

Did you construct the A3 in the most clear and concise manner?
Do we really understand how this meets our objective?

30. Developing an A3 – Agreeing on a Plan
Goal and Analysis

What does performance need to be to fill the gap?

Why aren’t we getting that performance today?

What will it take to change our performance?

What should our goal be for this issue?

What tools/methods/process will we use to determine the root
cause and/or best solution?

What is the root cause?
Why this goal?
What are the alternatives?
How do you know you fully understand
what needs to be done?


31. Some Common Problems in Planning

We plan in terms of actions (tasks) rather than goals or objectives

Responsibilities and the specifics of deliverables are not clear

We plan in silos, out of context of the rest of organization or
operation

We underestimate the time and effort required to implement

We don’t make reviews part of the plan

32. Before You Get to implementing the Plan?

What is the problem or issue?

Who owns the problem?

What is the root cause?

What are some of the possible countermeasures?

How will you decide which countermeasures to propose?

How will you get agreement from everyone concerned?
Think Focus onis to problem beforeproblem to get locked into 1 countermeasure.
Are you about countermeasures. attempt to agreement.
Purposeworking on the right you Don’tto getfind countermeasures.
robustly the create an understanding begin with?

33. Developing an A3 – Proposing Action
 What
is your recommendation /
countermeasure (make sure it relates to the
root cause)?
 What


is the plan (who, what, where, when)?
Gantt chart with exact timelines
Deliverables
Why did you pick this countermeasure?
How do you know this will work?
How will you make sure it gets done?
Remember you are writing a story

34. Developing an A3 – Checking, Adjusting and Standardizing

How will we know if the actions are delivering the expected
results (measurements, timing)?

How will we make adjustments?

How can we standardize the new processes once they are
working?

What other areas do we need to
look at?

How do we review with everyone
and spread the lessons learned?
What have we learned?
How can we spread this learning?
How can we sustain the improvement?

35. The Check on Your A3 Process

Without the underlying management philosophy, without PDCA
as a discipline of the organization A3 can become just a new form
to display old thinking.

Are we making better decisions and implementing them better
and faster?

Are people more engaged in decision making? Is there more
candid dialogue?

Is the focus on the process and the scientific method rather than
the idea or the person?

Are we reducing the time to business results?

36. Summary A3 Process
The Purpose of the A3 Process is to:

Structure effective and efficient dialogue to foster understanding
and reach agreement
Heading
Do
11”
Plan
Check
Footnotes
17”
Act