All Book Reviews.

Book Reviews: Root Cause Analysis by Robert Latino and Kenneth Latino

To appreciate this book, it is best to understand that the authors are in sales-mode for the majority of the text. In the first two-thirds, they are selling the concept of root cause analysis, and more particularly their methodology for doing so. In the latter one-third, they are selling their company’s software (PROACT). This software automates the process of performing root cause analysis. Both authors work for the Reliability Center, Inc., a for-profit consulting firm that specializes in industrial reliability consulting. The Reliability Center was founded in 1985, when the authors’ father retired from Allied Chemical and went into the consulting business (he had established the reliability engineering department at Allied in 1972). While this book is obviously not a textbook on root-cause analysis, you can still glean useful insights from it.

Root cause analysis is the orderly process of searching backwards from an undesirable event or outcome to its causes. Here the authors make a useful distinction between types of causes:

Physical root causes -- these are tangible causes likely to be found first in the search. For example, if the outcome is “tool down”, the physical root cause could be “electricity failure”. The authors point out that you should not stop working at this point, because the most interesting and useful root causes lie much deeper.

Human root causes -- these are decision errors that usually result in physical root causes. In our example, the human root cause could be “maintenance flipped a breaker off to work on a different tool, not knowing that it would affect our tool”. When you find human root causes, the authors say, you should starting asking the question “why?”.

Latent root causes -- these are policies, procedures, and practices that people use to make decisions. Continuing our example, the latent root cause could be “breaker-box diagrams are not updated on a regular schedule”. The authors argue that latent root causes are the true culprits.

The authors also make several interesting points when discussing the focus of root cause analysis projects. They argue that many root cause analysis projects fail due to lack of focus, e.g. a propensity to work on every undesirable outcome, rather than the few most important events. They draw a distinction between sporadic events (dramatic impact, but limited frequency) and chronic events (not so dramatic, but happen all the time). The authors believe that chronic events, while not costly on an individual basis, are costly on a cumulative basis, and are the best focus for root cause analysis.

The book includes individual chapters on the steps of root cause analysis (putting together the team, performing the analysis, communicating results, tracking implementation results). Again, you sometimes have the feeling that you are reading a consulting project proposal, e.g. “here is what we would do if you hired us to come and perform a root cause analysis at your facility”. But if you were to perform a project like this on your own, the authors’ big-picture blueprint would be quite helpful.

In summary, the sales nature of the book is off-putting at times. However, the authors have been in the reliability consulting business for many years, and you have to respect their experience. If you are planning a structured attempt at root cause analysis in your facility, you will pick up enough tips from this book to easily justify its cost.

If you would like to buy this book, just click on the following link to open a new window and go directly to Root Cause Analysis - First Edition or Root Cause Analysis - Second Edition on Amazon’s website. FabTime is an Amazon affiliate. This review refers to the first edition.