When Root Cause Eludes You

In the investigation system that helps us ensure our products are complaint, there is one moment every investigator dreads…. when root cause is not able to be clearly identified. Root cause identification is our goal and it is not achievable 100% of the time. An event occurs, we do all the right things in discovery and then end at a dead end of no sure cause. Sometimes root cause eludes us due to the complexity of the issues we face, the time elapsed since production, or critical evidence is not available. When this happens, it is a frustrating and disheartening outcome to investigation activities. So what do you do?