What are the seven sections of an A3?
| # | Section | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Background | Why this problem matters now: the business context, the measure affected, who is impacted. Three sentences. |
| 2 | Current condition | What is actually happening, with data: a chart, a Pareto, a sketch of the process. Facts from the gemba, not opinions. |
| 3 | Goal / target condition | The measurable state you want by when. "Reduce label jams from 14 a week to 2 by 30 June." |
| 4 | Root cause analysis | The gap between 2 and 3 broken down: fishbone, 5 whys, data by cause. End with the root causes you will act on. |
| 5 | Countermeasures | The actions that address each root cause, with the expected effect. Several small ones beat one large one. |
| 6 | Implementation plan | Who does what by when: a table of action, owner, date, status. |
| 7 | Follow-up | How and when you will check the result against the goal, and what you will standardise or share if it works. |
Across the top: title (the problem, not the solution), owner, coach, date and version.
The template
| Left side: the problem | Right side: the response |
|---|---|
| 1. Background — Why now? Which measure? Who is affected? | 5. Countermeasures — Root cause → countermeasure → expected effect |
| 2. Current condition — Data, chart, process sketch | 6. Implementation plan — Action / owner / due / status |
| 3. Target condition — Measure, value, date | 7. Follow-up — Check date, method, result, standardise / share |
| 4. Analysis — Fishbone or 5 whys → root causes |
How do you fill in an A3?
Fill it left to right and expect to rewrite the left side at least twice. The first current condition is usually an opinion; go back to the floor and replace it with data. Do not write countermeasures until the coach agrees the analysis reaches a cause. Hand-drawn is fine; the point is the thinking, not the formatting.
What makes a bad A3?
- Solution in the title ("Install new labeller").
- Current condition with no numbers.
- Analysis that stops at a symptom ("operator error").
- Countermeasures that do not match the root causes listed.
- No follow-up date, so nobody knows if it worked.
A3 reports and the daily management system
An A3 is raised when a measure on the tier board stays red despite daily actions. It is reviewed at the Tier 2 meeting on a fixed day, its actions are the same actions the board tracks, and section 7 closes when the measure has held for a period the team agrees. Completed A3s are kept where other teams can read them, which is how yokoten (sharing) happens.
Step by step
- Write the background. State why the problem matters, which measure it affects and who feels it, in three sentences.
- Go and see the current condition. Collect data at the gemba: how often, where, when, how much. Draw it.
- Set the target. A measurable value by a date, agreed with the coach and the process owner.
- Analyse to root cause. Fishbone to organise causes, 5 whys to go deep, data to confirm which causes matter.
- Choose countermeasures. One per confirmed root cause, with the expected effect on the measure.
- Plan and do. Action, owner, date, status. Review weekly until done.
- Follow up and standardise. Check the measure on the agreed date; update the standard and share the A3 if it held.
A worked example
A beverage line raised an A3 after label jams stayed red for three weeks. The first current condition said 'frequent jams'; the coach sent the owner back, and the second version showed 14 jams a week, 11 of them on one SKU after changeover. The fishbone pointed to label tension being set by eye. The countermeasure was a marked setting and a checklist step; the follow-up four weeks later showed two jams a week, and the changeover standard was updated across both shifts.