Contain an urgent problem on the line
When something goes wrong on the line, isolate it at once so it does not reach the customer or happen again while the cause is sought.
The task in figures
- Gives you back
- It does not recur every month
- Elmira today
- Helps
- Frequency
- As needed
- Who does it today
- Engineer
- Version
- Elmira Junior
What hurts today.
It is coordinated by phone, and what is not written down is not followed up.
The product set aside is forgotten in the warehouse.
Once it is contained, nobody looks for its cause, and it comes back.
A problem on the line does not wait for the meeting: whatever is going wrong has to be stopped, the suspect product set aside, the right people told and who checks what decided, in minutes. It is the first step of any method (the 8D’s D3, the A3’s containment), and it is done by phone, by shouting and with a list on paper. What is not written down is not followed up: the product set aside is forgotten in the warehouse, and nobody knows later what it cost or what was done.
Done today with
- On the floor
- Paper and whiteboard
- Spreadsheet
- Email and chat
Each step, today and with Elmira.
You tell Elmira on WhatsApp who checks what, and she sets it down as an action with its owner and its date, with the photos of what happened, and Obeyaka tells them. With the Value Office, the problem is opened to find its cause.
| Step | Today | With Elmira |
|---|---|---|
| Stop whatever is going wrong and set the suspect product aside | On the floor | Your call |
| Tell the right people: supervision, quality and maintenance | Email and chat10 min – 20 min | Still by hand |
| Hand out who checks what, and by when | Paper and whiteboard, Email and chat10 min – 20 min | |
| Record what happened, with photos | Paper and whiteboard, On the floor10 min – 20 min | |
| Open the problem to find its cause | Spreadsheet, Email and chat5 min – 15 min | Comes with the value office |
The conversation
- Paula, Packaging supervisor
Elmira, sealer 2 has been leaving badly sealed boxes since 10 o’clock. We stopped it and set 300 boxes aside. Luis Araya should check them one by one before the shift ends.
Create the action “Check one by one the 300 boxes set aside from sealer 2”
Goal: Cut Packaging’s waste
Team: Packaging
Responsible: Luis Araya
Due on October 7, 2026
Done when: every box checked, and the badly sealed ones on the reject rack
- Paula, Packaging supervisor
Approve
Done: I created the action “Check one by one the 300 boxes set aside from sealer 2”.
Does this happen to your team?
Book a demo and we will show you Elmira doing this task.
More cases of problem solving
- Gather the problems people on the floor reportWhat is said in the hallway reaches nobody.
- Spot the problems in the indicators’ deviationsPeople react to every number that drops, and none gets solved.
- Keep the list of open problems and their statusThe list lives apart from the plan, and goes stale.