🔎 The Investigation Skills Every Quality Team Needs

Root Cause Analysis & CAPA (AS13000)

After this course, you will run a 5-Why that holds up to an audit, write CAPA effectiveness verification steps that actually prove the problem stayed fixed, and lead 8D investigations your customers accept on the first submission. QMS Workbench stays with you for every investigation — challenging your root causes, stress-testing your CAPAs before you submit, and finding patterns across your CAPA history you have been missing for years. Built by practitioners who have walked into a thousand audit closures.

AS13000 8DISO 9001:2015 Clause 10.2AS9100D Clause 10.2ISO 19011:2018

10 modules•55 lessons•2 enrolled•QMS Workbench included

Team license

For organizations

5+ seats • demo-gated pricing

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✓ Audit-ready skills you use immediately

✓ QMS Workbench, your permanent compliance partner

✓ LinkedIn certificate that proves your expertise

✓ Real scenarios that prepare you before it matters

✓ Updated forever as regulations change

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Build the CAPA System Your Registrar Stops Writing Findings Against

Other courses teach you the tools. We teach you the judgment to use them when it matters.

🎯

The Quality Lead Who Closes Findings Permanently

You will stop closing CAPAs that come back. Your investigations will identify the actual root cause, not the convenient one. Your corrective actions will work because you stress-tested them before you wrote them up. Your effectiveness verification will be specific enough to actually prove the problem is gone.

🎓

The Credential That Says You Investigate, Not Just Document

Your RCA & CAPA certificate proves you can run AS13000 8D investigations, DMAIC projects, and audit-defensible 5-Why sessions. Quality leaders who can actually close problems are the ones who get promoted.

🤖

An AI Partner That Challenges Every Investigation

QMS Workbench is not a tutor that answers your questions. It is a partner that pushes back on weak root causes, stress-tests your CAPAs before you submit them, drafts your 8D report sections, and finds patterns across your investigation history that have been hiding in plain sight.

QMS Workbench Stays With You

After the course, your AI compliance mentor is available 24/7. Here is what a real conversation looks like.

QMS Workbench

You

We had three customer returns this quarter for the same defect. The team did 5-Whys but the problem keeps coming back. What are we missing?

Three repeats with completed 5-Whys means the investigations stopped at a symptom, not a cause. Most teams stop at the third or fourth Why because the answer there feels actionable ("the operator did not follow the work instruction"). That is rarely the real root cause. The actual cause is usually one or two layers deeper: why was the work instruction unclear? why was the operator not trained on the new revision? why did the process not catch this earlier? Pull your three CAPAs side by side and look for the common root cause beneath the immediate ones — that is almost certainly your systemic issue.

You

Help me re-run the 5-Why on the most recent return, but push past the obvious answer.

✨

Ask anything, anytime. "Critique this CAPA root cause statement: [paste your statement]" "What is the difference between an 8D and a DMAIC, and which should I use here?" "Help me draft the D4 root cause section of my 8D report"

What You'll Be Able to Do

✓Stop firefighting and build the mental model that separates problem-solvers from problem-recyclers

✓Run a 5-Why session that an auditor cannot pick apart

✓Lead an AS13000 8D investigation from D0 through D8 your customer accepts on first submission

✓Bound a problem with Is/Is-Not analysis before wasting a week investigating the wrong thing

✓Use Fishbone, FMEA, SPC, Pareto, and Fault Tree correctly — and know which tool fits which problem

✓Stress-test every CAPA with AI before you submit it, so customers stop sending rejections

✓Find systemic issues hiding across your CAPA history with pattern detection

✓Use QMS Workbench to run faster, better-defended investigations every single week

Course Curriculum

Module 1: The Problem-Solver's Mindset

Why most quality teams stay stuck in firefighting — and what the best teams do differently

6 lessons

1.Why Most Quality Teams Stay Stuck in Firefighting22 min

2.The Three Problem-Solving Traps That Kill RCAs22 min

3.What Separates Expert Problem Solvers From Everyone Else24 min

4.Pattern Recognition: How Experts See Problems Differently22 min

5.The Cost of Unsolved Problems20 min

6.Building a Problem-Solving Culture on Your Team22 min

Module 2: First Principles Thinking

The framework Elon Musk uses to solve impossible problems — applied to quality management

8 lessons

1.First Principles Thinking — The Framework That Changes Everything24 min

2.The SpaceX Rocket Case Study — Applied to Quality Problems22 min

3.First Principles Applied to Aerospace Compliance24 min

4.Workshop: Deconstruct a Recurring Quality Issue25 min

5.When First Principles Beats Best Practices20 min

6.Combining First Principles With Structured Problem Solving22 min

7.Common First Principles Failures (and How to Avoid Them)22 min

8.Capstone — Applying First Principles to Your Highest-Stakes Problem25 min

Module 3: Problem Prioritization — Which Fire to Fight First

You can't solve every problem. Stop trying. This module teaches you Pareto analysis, risk-based scoring (RPN), and the monthly portfolio review process — the skills that determine whether your CAPA system improves or just generates paperwork.

4 lessons

1.Why You Cannot Fix Everything22 min

2.Pareto Analysis: Finding the Vital Few24 min

3.Risk-Based Prioritization: Severity × Frequency × Detectability23 min

4.The CAPA Portfolio Review: Closing Out vs. Adding More21 min

Module 4: AS13000 8D Methodology — The Aerospace Standard

What every commercial aviation and defense prime requires for problem solving. The eight disciplines in sequence, with the aerospace-specific evidence requirements that separate AS13000 from automotive 8D.

6 lessons

1.AS13000 8D: What It Is and Why Aerospace Adopted It22 min

2.D1, D2, D3: Team, Problem Definition, Containment24 min

3.D4: Root Cause Analysis — Where Most 8Ds Fail25 min

4.D5: Choosing Corrective Actions That Actually Work22 min

5.D6 and D7: Implement, Verify, Prevent Recurrence22 min

6.D8: Closure, Recognition, and the Customer-Facing Report21 min

Module 5: Root Cause Tools — Fishbone (Ishikawa)

The most-used, most-misused tool in quality. Ishikawa's cause-and-effect diagram, applied inside D4 of the 8D, with the 5M+E categories and the facilitation discipline that separates real RCA from theater.

4 lessons

1.What a Fishbone Diagram Is (and Why It Beats Brainstorming)21 min

2.Building the 5M+E Categories22 min

3.Building a Fishbone in Practice: A Worked Example23 min

4.Facilitating Fishbone Sessions: Mistakes That Kill Them21 min

Module 6: Root Cause Tools — 5-Why and Beyond

The most-used and most-abused root cause tool in manufacturing. This module covers how to run a 5-Why that holds up to an audit, when to use Is/Is-Not bounding to make 5-Why dramatically sharper, when stakes demand Fault Tree Analysis instead, and how to pick the right tool for the problem in front of you.

5 lessons

1.The 5-Why Technique: What It Is and Why It Fails Most of the Time22 min

2.Running a 5-Why Session That Holds Up to an Audit23 min

3.Beyond 5-Why: When to Use Is/Is-Not Analysis21 min

4.Fault Tree Analysis: For When Stakes Are Too High to Guess24 min

5.Choosing the Right Root Cause Tool for the Problem21 min

Module 7: DMAIC — The Lean Six Sigma Approach to RCA

DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) is the Six Sigma five-phase framework for sustained process improvement. This module covers each phase in operational detail, the statistical tools you actually need, and how DMAIC and 8D coexist in a mature aerospace QMS to satisfy AS9100 clause 10.3 continual improvement.

5 lessons

1.DMAIC: What It Is and How It Differs from 8D22 min

2.Define and Measure: Setting the Foundation23 min

3.Analyze: Finding the Vital Few X's24 min

4.Improve and Control: Making Changes That Stick22 min

5.When DMAIC and 8D Coexist: The Mature QMS Pattern21 min

Module 8: Advanced Problem-Solving Tools

The proactive risk and control toolkit: FMEA (process and design), Statistical Process Control charts and Western Electric Rules, Pareto analysis for prioritization, the Control Plan that ties PFMEA to work instructions to SPC, and Layered Process Audits that catch drift between formal internal audits. These tools turn a reactive QMS into a predictive one.

5 lessons

1.FMEA: Process and Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis24 min

2.Statistical Process Control (SPC): The Control Tool That Catches Drift23 min

3.Pareto Analysis: Finding the Vital Few in Defect Data21 min

4.Control Plans: The Document That Locks In Gains21 min

5.Layered Process Audits (LPA): Continuous Verification That Controls Are Working22 min

Module 9: AI-Augmented Problem Solving

AI is changing root cause analysis more than any tool since SPC. This module covers what AI is actually good at in RCA (brainstorming, challenging reasoning, drafting documentation), what it is bad at (knowing your shop floor, verifying claims, customer-specific requirements), the five prompts that run a better 5-Why, AI stress-testing of CAPAs before submission, cross-CAPA pattern detection for systemic issues, the failure modes to guard against, and how to roll the workflow out to a team that will actually use it.

6 lessons

1.Why AI Changes Root Cause Analysis (and Why It Does Not Replace You)22 min

2.The Five Prompts That Run a Better 5-Why23 min

3.Using AI to Stress-Test a CAPA Before You Submit It22 min

4.AI for Pattern Detection: Finding Systemic Issues Across Your CAPA History23 min

5.When AI Gets RCA Wrong: The Failure Modes to Guard Against22 min

6.Building an AI-Augmented CAPA Workflow Your Team Will Actually Use24 min

Module 10: CAPA System Management and Continuous Improvement

A CAPA system is more than a collection of CAPAs. This module covers the architecture decisions that determine maturity, workflow design with named ownership at every step, effectiveness verification (the step everyone skips), management review as a decision-making body rather than a slide deck, the five-level CAPA maturity model, and a sequenced 90-day improvement plan that takes a CAPA system from filing-cabinet to learning-system.

6 lessons

1.CAPA as a System: Beyond Individual Investigations22 min

2.CAPA Workflow Design: Who Owns What at Each Step22 min

3.Effectiveness Verification: The Step Everyone Skips23 min

4.Management Review: Turning CAPA Data Into Strategic Decisions22 min

5.The CAPA Maturity Model: Where Is Your System and How Do You Move Up22 min

6.Putting It All Together: Your 90-Day CAPA Improvement Plan23 min

Who Is This Course For?

→Quality engineers tired of CAPAs that recur because root cause was guessed at

→Quality managers whose customers reject 8D reports for weak D4 root cause sections

→New quality managers inheriting a CAPA backlog and a broken system

→Auditors who want to know what an audit-defensible 5-Why actually looks like

→Manufacturing teams whose registrar keeps writing findings for ineffective CAPA

→Anyone tired of firefighting and ready to build a CAPA system that works

Audit-Ready

In Weeks

Lifetime

Workbench Access

30+

Years Experience

30+

Years Experience

60-80%

Less Than Classroom

Training Has Evolved

Don't Just Take Training. Keep the Expert.

Most training is broken. You sit through a course, pass a quiz, get a certificate... then the real-world problem shows up and you're on your own. Not here.

Traditional Training

xWatch content once, forget 80% in 30 days

xNo support when real problems hit

xGeneric content, not your industry

x,200-,500 per seat + travel costs

xCertificate is the finish line

QMS Learning Academy

+Learn + implement + ask + adapt continuously

+Lifetime AI tutor for guidance during implementation

+Built by practitioners with 30+ years of real audits

+60-80% less than instructor-led alternatives

+Execution is the finish line

Lifetime AI Tutor

Ask questions while you implement. Not generic AI. Trained on your standard, your industry, real audit scenarios.

30+

Expert-Trained Context

Generic AI gives generic answers. Our AI is trained on real audits, real findings, real consequences. 30+ years of practitioner experience.

Outcome Over Content

We don't optimize for course completion. We optimize for audit readiness, compliance confidence, and career growth.

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