Problem solving is the art of effectively addressing problems and carrying out solutions.

• 7FM methodologies solve problems in hours rather than weeks/months.  
• 7FM can understand extremely complex problems in weeks rather than months or years.  The experiments that validate cause through the function’s failure modes, and then to the effects will take longer than the determination of the controlling causes.
• 7FM is a function based analysis.  Each function’s potential failure modes are selected against the problem.  The parameters that control the function or mitigate degradation factors are changed/redesigned.
• 7FM provides a verifiable failure sequence which can be observed or measured.  
• 7FM proves that direct validation is possible even if the problem is the complete powertrain of a vehicle, commercial fuel cells, ocean going ship powertrains, engine, turbine generator, transmissions, supercharger, tooling, equipment, robots, computers, and so on. 7FM has been successfully applied to all these and more.
• 7FM root cause analysis rarely takes longer than 4 hours.   Reliability problems of an ocean going ship took five days (before 7FM, the team had been working on this problem for over six months).  Reliability problems for a commercial grade fuel cell took 5 days (before 7FM the team had been working on this problem for over six months).  A first gear to second gear shift shudder for a 1.5 ton pickup truck took less than one hour.  A “thunk” from a trunk of a $250,000 luxury performance car took 1 hour to determine the causes and one week of designed experiment to validate the causes (before 7FM, the team had been working on this problem for over 6 months).  A thermal event from headlamp wires took 20 minutes to identify root cause and 5 minutes to validate (the team had been working on the problem for weeks).
• Validation of complex causes might require designed experiments which can take time but the factors are clearly stated as are the response variables (sequential experiments, factorial experiments, response surface analysis, multiple linear regression, multiple non-linear regression, etc.).
• The vast majority of the time, causes can be validated within hours or days.
• The functions will be well defined as well as their requirements for success and the requirements that are not met.
• The understating of the functions, their parameters, degradation factors, provide clear direction towards solutions.
• Understanding the nature of a problem and the problem type means that an effective approach can be selected.
• Product root causes require understanding the product function architecture (top level system, system, assembly, or component)
• Process problems require understanding the process function architecture (transactional, raw material processing, material processing, component manufacturing, component assembly, system assembly, and top-level system assembly).
• Preventing failure of solutions is important as is validating the stability of solutions over time.