(2, 2) - Process Improvement Flashcards
What is Just-in-Time production?
Rather than each company in a supply chain storing raw materials and finished goods, only items which are required are actually produced. A carefully planned schedule and flow of resources goes through the production process. The production scheduling software plans production for each period of time, which includes ordering the correct stock. Information is exchanged with suppliers and customers to ensure every detail is correct.
What are advantages and disadvantages of Just-in-Time production?
+ Less working capital is tied up in stock
+ Less likelihood of stock perishing or becoming obsolete
+ Avoids the build-up of unsold finished products which can occur with sudden changed in demand
+ Less time spent on checking and re-working incoming stocks as the emphasis is on ‘right first time’
- Little room for errors in production as minimal stock is kept for reworking faulty products
- Very reliant on suppliers; no buffers
- Any delays affect the whole supply chain
- No spare finished products to meet unexpected orders (although JIT is a responsive method of production).
What is meant by JIT being a ‘demand pull’ system?
The customers demand triggers the next stage of the supply chain.
What is “lean thinking” or “lean manufacturing”?
Lean thinking considers all activity which is not directly adding value for the customer to be wasteful. It is based on eliminating waste.
What are the 7 wastes which was concepted by Taichi Ohno at Toyota?
TIMWOOD
Transport – unnecessarily moving products
Inventory – any stock not being processed
Motion – people or equipment moving more than is required to perform the processing
Waiting – for the next production step
Over-Production – production ahead of demand
Over-Processing – resulting from poor tool or product design creating activity
Defects – the effort involved in inspecting for and fixing defects
What is “Lean Supply”?
Lean enterprises can only reach their full potential if participants in their supply chain share similar behaviours and processes. Downstream and Upstream need to adopt similar practices so it is pulled through the chain and each is focussed on waste elimination and value creation.
What characteristics might a Lean organisation have?
A culture of cross-functional working
Control systems and attitudes which aim to spot and solve problems immediately.
Clear communications
A drive to find and fix root causes, not symptoms
The use of planned techniques, like value stream mapping to challenge the status quo
The drive for continuous improvement breaks down into three basic principles, what are they?
Challenge – question ourselves every day to see if we are achieving our goals and identify where improvements can be made
Kaizen – a culture encouraging continuous improvement which works on the premise that no process is ever good enough.
Genchi Genbutsu – a philosophy which states ‘that to fully understand a problem you need to go and see it yourself.
One feature of lean and just in time thinking is the 5S improvement technique. What is this?
It is an improvement method for how to organise a workspace for efficiency and effectiveness.
Sort – go through all tools and materials in the work area and keep only essential items eliminating anything not required.
Set in order – arrange tools, parts, and instructions in such a way that the most frequently used items are easiest and quickest to locate.
Shining – keep the workspace and all equipment clean, tidy and organised. Make sure everything is returned to its space.
Standardise – all work for a particular job should be identical. Any employee should be able to work in any work station.
Sustain the practice – maintain focus on this new approach and do not allow decline back to old ways of working. Continually seek improvement.
What is “Agile” Supply?
In contrast to Lean supply it is a supply chain set up to service unpredictable demand for a wide variety of variants. This requires good linkages to actual customer demand, such as through point-of-sales systems, rather than through forecasts. Real-time data is shared throughout the supply chain and participants may integrate some key processes, such as inventory sharing.
What is “Business Process Re-engineering” or BPR?
The fundamental re-thinking and radical re-design of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service and speed. The focus could be around the procurement operations who deal with everything concerning with relationships with suppliers or it could be around customer service operations.
What are the 7 principles of BPR?
Organise around outcomes not tasks
Those who use the outcome of the process should own it
Integrate any discrete information processing activities into actual “work” done so it produces information as a by-product
Treat geographically dispersed resources and though they were centralised resources
Link parallel activities instead of integrating their results
Put the decision where work is performed and build control into the process
Capture information once
What are the benefits of BPR?
Step Changes – in the pace and quality of response to customer needs
New Organisational Design – often results in radically new organisation designs that can help companies respond better to competitive pressure.
Workers – at all levels are encouraged to make suggestions for improvement.
Think Big – encourages organisations to think big
Rewarding Jobs – workers feel involved in the entire process
What is the technique for improvement known as “Benchmarking” and what types of benchmarking are there?
Benchmarking is comparing your own business processes and practices with known best practice elsewhere in order to learn new techniques and identify ways of working. Different types of benchmarking include:
Internal Benchmarking – used to compare internal processes between different functions and business units of the same organisation
Functional Benchmarking – used to compare practices between the same function across different organisations (such as the supply chain function)
Competitive Benchmarking – used to gather competitive intelligence and compare competing organisations within a specific sector
Strategic Benchmarking – used to compare generic or strategic processes between organisations
