8 steps of 8D report
why many companies standardize on 8D Report

Qcant™ | 8 steps of 8D report


  • D1 –Establish a Problem Solving Team.
  • D2 – Describe the problem.
  • D3 – Execute temporary countermeasures.
  • D4 – Find out the real cause of the problem.
  • D5 – Choose permanent countermeasures determined.
  • D6 – Fully Implement the Solution.
  • D7 – Prevent Recurrence.


D1-Step 1: Establish a problem solving team that relevant personnel will be summoned by the quality department

If the problem cannot be resolved independently, notify the people you think are involved to form a team. The members of the team must be able to perform, for example, adjust the machine or know how to change the process conditions, or be able to direct the screening. Note: The executor is not included.

D2-Step 2: Describe the problem  collected by the Quality Department and communicated to the team

Explain to the team when, where, what happened, the severity, the current state, how to deal with it urgently, and show photos and evidence collected. Imagine that you are an FBI case investigator. The clearer you describe the evidence and details, the faster the team will solve the problem.

D3-Step 3: Execute temporary countermeasures the team is responsible for implementation

If the real cause has not been found, what method can be used to prevent the problem as soon as possible? Such as full inspection, screening, automatic change to manual, inventory check, etc. After the temporary countermeasures are decided, they will be brought back to the team members immediately for implementation. Remarks: In order to prevent omissions, the five corrective measures are → customer warehouse, in-transit, customer production line, factory production line & factory warehouse.

D4-Step 4: Find out the real cause of the problem determined by the group after discussion

When looking for the real cause of the problem, it is best not to blindly change the current production state, but to use your brain first. The first thing is to observe, analyze, and compare. List all the production conditions you know (i.e. fishbone diagrams) and watch them one by one to see if some conditions are out of shape, or has something changed recently? Did you change the clamps? Changed workers? Changed suppliers? Changed carrier? Repaired the power supply? Process changed?

Or compare the inspection results of good and bad products to see which data has a big difference? size? weight? Voltage value? CPK? Withstand voltage? There is always a reason for the occurrence of bad things, and data analysis can often reveal clues. Analysis like this can help you narrow down and get closer to the heart of the problem. When the analysis is complete, list the items that you think are the most likely, and then make some adjustments one by one, and observe which changes can return the quality to normal and affect the degree of variation, and then find the real cause of the problem. This is the simplest and most practical application of the famous Taguchi method.

D5-Step 5: Choose permanent countermeasures determined by group members after discussion

Once you have identified the main cause of the problem, you can begin to develop ways to counter it. There may be several countermeasures, such as repairing or updating the mold. Try to list the pros and cons of the possible options. How much would it cost? How much manpower? How long can it last? Then make an optimal choice of possible methods, and confirm that such countermeasures will not produce other side effects. Remarks: Six points of countermeasures → improvement of starting point, improvement of mold/jig, judgment standard, identification mark, isolation treatment, and improvement of product design.

D6-Step 6: Execute and verify permanent countermeasures the team is responsible for implementing and verifying

When permanent countermeasures are in place, temporary countermeasures can be started and stopped. And to verify the permanent countermeasures, for example, the observed defect rate has been reduced from 4000 PPM to 300 PPM, and the CPK has been increased from 0.5 to 1.8. The downstream section and customers can fully accept it and no longer cause problems.

D7-Step 7: Recurrence prevention measures and standardization  implemented by team personnel

In order to prevent the recurrence of the problem, permanent countermeasures should be implemented in design drawings, process documents, inspection instructions, improvement of molds/fixtures, etc. In addition, for similar products, although the problem has not yet occurred, it needs to be improved simultaneously to prevent similar problems from recurring in other products. At the same time, such failures should also be included in the FMEA of the next product development section for verification, so as to completely prevent the recurrence of the problem from the source.

D8-Step 8: Team Incentive The operation center is responsible for confirming and reporting

Reward the team who worked hard to solve the problem, so that it has a sense of achievement in the work, and is very happy to solve the next problem encountered. Whether it is a problem found in the production and development section, or a mass production or customer complaint problem, if the company solves nearly 100 engineering problems in accordance with the 8D method every year, it will greatly cultivate the strength of the engineering personnel and become an important asset of the company. This is also the reason why many companies standardize 8D.

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