Excess quality defects off the line was significantly causes productivity issues. Numerous people had tired to address problem without resolution. I shared that I went out and sat down with the actual operators (which no one had) and asked them what they thought the issue was. It ended up being something that only happened intermittely which since they were there knew it. Person coming down to look would not have caught it. Made the proper adjustments and returned to history run rates and quality levels.