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A3 problem solving template
An A3 problem solving template is a single sheet, named after the A3 paper size (297 × 420 mm, close to 11 × 17 inches), that takes one problem from background to follow-up in seven boxes: background, current condition, goal, root cause analysis, countermeasures, implementation plan and follow-up. The left side describes the problem and why it happens; the right side says what you will do about it and how you will know it worked. It follows the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle. The PDF has the blank A3 on page 1 and a filled-in worked example on page 2. The Excel version has the same seven boxes with tables that work out the defect rate, count the confirmed causes, flag late actions and show whether each follow-up period met the goal, plus a worked example sheet.
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
Boxes for background, current condition, goal and root cause analysis on the left, and countermeasures, implementation plan and follow-up on the right.When to use it
When to use an A3
- A problem that keeps coming back, costs real money, or needs more than one department to fix.
- When you need agreement from a manager or another team before you act: the A3 is the document you discuss.
- To coach someone through problem solving, because thin boxes show where the thinking is thin.
- Not for a quick fix you can make today. Use an action list, or a 5 Whys if you need to find the cause first.
How to fill it in
- 1
Title, owner and date
Name the problem in a few words, not the solution. Add the owner, the team and the date.
- 2
Background
Why this problem matters now, in business terms: safety, quality, delivery or cost, and who is affected.
- 3
Current condition
What is happening today, with facts from the gemba: a chart, a sketch of the process, the gap between the standard and what actually happens.
- 4
Goal
A measurable target with a date, for example cut scrap on line 2 from 4% to 2% by the end of June.
- 5
Root cause analysis
Use a fishbone diagram or the 5 Whys to get from the symptom to its causes, and mark each cause you have checked with data or on the floor.
- 6
Countermeasures
One or more for each checked root cause, with the cause it addresses and the effect you expect.
- 7
Implementation plan
Who does what by when, and the status of each action.
- 8
Follow-up
How and when you will check the result against the goal, what you found, and what you will standardize or share with other areas if it worked.
A filled-in example
Illustrative, not a benchmarkAn A3 on burr scrap from a stamping press. The same example is filled in on page 2 of the PDF and in the Excel version.
The example A3's current condition and result
- Burrs: 2080 parts scrapped
- Other defects: 694 parts scrapped
- Six weeks before (2,774 of 73,000)3.8%above goal
- Weeks 5 to 8 after (610 of 48,000)1.27%below goal
Before: 2,774 of 73,000 parts scrapped, 3.8 percent, 75 percent of them burrs, against a goal below 1.5 percent. After the countermeasures: 1.27 percent over weeks 5 to 8.
- Background: scrap on press 4 is the plant's biggest quality cost this quarter, most of it on one bracket, part 4471.
- Current condition: 2,774 parts scrapped of 73,000 made in six weeks, a 3.8% scrap rate; 2,080 of them (75%) were burrs.
- Goal: below 1.5% on that part by 30 June.
- Root cause: a 5 Whys on the burrs traced them to a die sharpened every four weeks by the calendar instead of by stroke count, after volume had doubled. Coil hardness was checked and ruled out.
- Countermeasures: sharpen every 50,000 strokes, and add a burr check to the first-piece and hourly checks.
- Follow-up: scrap reviewed weekly for eight weeks at 12,000 parts a week. It was below 1.5% from week 4 and averaged 1.27% over weeks 5 to 8 (610 of 48,000).
One sheet tells the whole story: anyone reviewing it can see the problem, the evidence, the cause, the fix and the result. The stroke-count interval went into the maintenance standard for every die on the press.
Common mistakes
Writing the solution in the title
Start from the problem. The countermeasure comes after the analysis, not before it.
A current condition with no numbers
Without a baseline you cannot set a goal or tell whether the countermeasure worked.
Root causes nobody checked
Each cause should be confirmed with data or at the gemba, not agreed around a table.
Filling it in alone at a desk
An A3 is meant to be discussed with the people who do the work and the people who must agree to the plan.
Stopping at implementation
The follow-up box is where you find out whether the problem is actually solved.
In LeanSuite
Use this as a Lean Studio board
The same method is one of the 30 ready-made board templates in Lean Studio, LeanSuite's whiteboard: A3 Problem Solving, single-page structured problem-solving report following the Toyota A3 method.
- Start from the A3 Problem Solving template: the seven A3 boxes laid out on one landscape board.
- Write in the text boxes, add stickies for countermeasures and draw the current condition with shapes and arrows.
- Drop a Column Graph or Line Graph widget into the current condition box so the numbers stay live.
Worked example · sample data
The sample A3 is about late deliveries on the North route, which rose in Q2. The current condition box gives the number, 84% on time against a target of 95%, and the pattern: most misses fall on Mondays. That pattern shaped the analysis. Two root causes were found: Monday pick lists were released late, and one forklift was shared between two docks. The countermeasures match them one to one: release Monday's lists on Friday at 15:00, and put a second forklift on the docks on Mondays. R. Patel owns the plan, due 12 August, and the follow-up is a weekly check on the tier 2 board. By week 33 the route was at 93% on time, so the team kept the A3 open for the last two points.
Open this board in LeanSuite
A3 Problem Solving is one of the 30 ready-made boards in Lean Studio, LeanSuite's whiteboard. Try LeanSuite in your browser, or run it on your own lines for 90 days.
What Lean Studio isHow to run an A3 Problem Solving session
- 1One owner writes the A3; the team feeds it. The owner takes it round the people affected and rewrites it after each conversation, which is where the thinking happens.
- 2Fill the left side first, over days not hours: background, the current condition drawn from the floor with data, the goal as a number and a date, and the root cause analysis.
- 3Only then move to the right side: countermeasures matched to causes, the plan with owners and dates, and how the result will be checked.
- 4Review it with the sponsor in 15 minutes, standing at the board. If it needs explaining, it is not finished.
- 5Keep the A3 alive until follow-up shows the result held, then file it where the next team with the same problem will find it.
Common mistakes
- Writing the right side first. Countermeasures chosen before the current condition is understood are guesses with a plan attached.
- A background box full of history and a current condition box with no data.
- A goal with no number or date.
- More countermeasures than causes: each one should point at a cause on the left.
- Filing the A3 at the plan stage. Follow-up is the box that proves the method worked.
Where it goes next in LeanSuite
- A3 is one of the ready-made methodologies in Kaizen & Projects, with its own phases, owners, due dates and tracked savings; a recurring tag or an approved idea can become an A3 project in one click. Kaizen & Projects
- The follow-up measure can be a KPI with a target and RAG ranges, flagged as soon as new data crosses a limit. KPI Dashboards
Download the template
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
Run this template in LeanSuite
LeanSuite's continuous improvement software runs every project the same way with built-in A3, DMAIC and PDCA templates, and tracks projected and actual savings for each one.
See it in a 45-minute demoIn the lean glossary
Guides
- A3 Problem Solving: A Practical Guide to Root Cause Analysis
- A3 Thinking: Beyond the Template
- A3 Report as a Project Management Tool: From Problem to Solution
- A3 examples: three worked A3 reports, with a coach's notes
- PDCA Cycle: The Foundation of Continuous Improvement
- Best A3 problem solving software: 5 tools compared
Put it on the wall
FAQ
A3 problem solving template: common questions
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- Focused improvement 90-day model area planThirteen weeks from the loss Pareto to standardized fixes on one model line, a KPI board, the day-90 gate and expansion waves.
- Logistics and customer service pillar 90-day model area planThirteen weeks from the current-state map to pull on one model value stream, a KPI board, the day-90 gate and expansion waves.
- People development pillar 90-day model area planThirteen weeks from the skills matrix to trained cover on critical tasks in one model area, a KPI board, the day-90 gate and expansion waves.
- Early equipment management 90-day model area planThirteen weeks from lessons on current machines to a tracked start-up on one model equipment project, a KPI board, the day-90 gate and expansion waves.
- Cost deployment pillar 90-day model area planThirteen weeks from the loss map to costed, ranked projects in one model area, a KPI board, the day-90 gate and expansion waves.
- Moving from Excel to one system checklistA 34-point checklist and a file inventory for moving trackers from spreadsheets to one system: keep, move, connect or retire, clean, pilot, run both, retire.
- Cost per unit worksheet (manufacturing cost per good unit)One product's cost per good unit by materials, labor, machine and overhead, the gap to target, and which cost lever is worth most a year.
- Digital manufacturing readiness assessmentScore 24 statements on process, technology and people from 0 to 4, check the balance between them and rank the gaps by what matters in your plant.
- Manufacturing KPI dashboard templateWeekly plant numbers in, 14 KPIs out: OEE and its parts, first pass yield, scrap, on-time delivery, recordable rate, cost and absence, each against a target.
- RCM worksheet (failure mode and task selection)Failure modes classed as hidden, safety, operational or non-operational, then a task chosen for each: condition-based, discard, failure-finding, redesign or run to failure.
- Error-proofing verification log (daily master-sample check)Each poka-yoke device proved every day or week with a known-bad sample, with missed checks counted and the hours and parts at risk worked out when one fails.
- Training matrix template with expiry datesPeople by required trainings with expiry dates, OK, due, expired and missing flags, compliance by person and area, cover per training and a renewal list.
- Downtime reason codes template26 starter codes mapped to the six big losses, a log with drop-downs, a Pareto by code and by loss, and a code card for the line.
- Defect catalogue template with boundary samplesEvery defect with a definition, a class and the reason for it, measured accept and reject limits by zone, boundary samples, a defect log with DPU and Pareto, and an inspector agreement check.
- I-MR chart template (individuals and moving range)Up to 100 single readings with moving ranges, limits from a baseline, five run-rule flags, both charts, a second phase and a reaction log.
- Kaizen event preparation checklistEverything that has to be ready before a kaizen event and done after it: 44 items with owners and due dates from 6 weeks before day 1 to 30 days after, five go or no-go gates and a day-by-day agenda.
- Attribute control chart template (p, np, c and u charts)p, np, c and u charts in one workbook: a chart selector, a sample size check, limits for each subgroup, signal flags and four worked examples.
- Critical spare parts list and stocking levelsAssets ranked by consequence, each part classed and given a stocking policy, and min and max worked out from usage and lead time, with the downtime each stock-out would cost.
- Tier 2 meeting agenda and escalation sheetA 15-minute tier 2 agenda in ten timed blocks, fixed roles and rules, escalation triggers with time limits, and a log that ages every escalation and sends the answer back down.
- HACCP plan template: hazard analysis and CCP worksheetThe Codex 12 steps in one workbook: team and product, process steps checked on site, hazard analysis with the CCP decision tree, the CCP table with completeness checks, an allergen matrix and a verification schedule.
- Forklift operator training and evaluation recordPer-operator training and evaluation record, a register with three-year due dates and refresher triggers, and a weighted practical evaluation scoresheet.
- REBA worksheet (Rapid Entire Body Assessment)Score up to six postures with REBA: body-part drop-downs, Tables A, B and C as lookups, final score and action level, and a before and after comparison.
- Mock recall template: traceability exercise worksheetTrace a finished lot back to every input lot and forward to every first customer, reconcile the quantities against a tolerance and time it against your target.
- ISO 9001 internal audit checklist (production area)46 audit questions for the production floor in 11 processes, each with its ISO 9001:2015 clause, what evidence to look for and the sample to take, plus five defined grades, a findings log, a finding report and a summary by clause.
- ISO 45001 internal audit checklist44 audit questions for the plant floor in 16 safety topics, each with its ISO 45001:2018 clause, the evidence to look for and the sample to take, plus 12 worker interview prompts, a findings log and a summary by clause.
- Plan for every part (PFEP) templateOne row per part: supplier, pack, container, usage, lead time and locations, with ABC classes, market and line kanban counts and a lineside space check.
- Food plant GMP inspection checklist (21 CFR 117 subpart B)55 checks in the order of 21 CFR 117 subpart B, each citing its paragraph and saying what to look at, with a grade, finding, owner and due date; results by section and grade, a walk route and a bakery example.
- Master sanitation schedule with pre-op verificationA master list of cleaning tasks by area and equipment with frequency, chemical, lockout, who and next due date, a weekly on-time count, and the pre-operational verification log with a release step.
- Changeover matrix templateA from-to matrix of changeover minutes with the clean each transition needs (allergen, colour, format), and a weekly planner that totals the order and suggests a shorter one.
- Overhead crane inspection checklist: frequent and periodic34 crane checks tied to OSHA 1910.179: an operator's pre-shift card, frequent and periodic inspections with signed records, a deficiency and tag-out log, and a register of next due dates.
- Measurement uncertainty budget templateA GUM uncertainty budget: Type A and B rows, divisors by distribution, sensitivity coefficients, uc, νeff, k from the t-table, U, TUR and a guard band check.
- Maintenance job plan templateOne job planned on one sheet: steps and craft hours, parts checked against stock, tools, lockout and permits, documents, a ready check for the schedule, and technician feedback.
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A shift handover sheet, a red tag log, a changeover checklist for one machine: if your team uses it on the floor, ask.