A3 System Control and Management

Question 1

Main concept behind Toyota Production System

Answer 1

Eliminate unnecessary resources (waste) > increased production efficiency & effectiveness
Produce required product at right time, quantity & quality (Just-in-time)

Question 2

Is Just-in-time production pull/push system

Answer 2

Pull since each stage initiates production by requesting an order from prev. stage in production process

Question 3

Just-in-time As

Answer 3

Bottlenecks eliminated
Batch sizes reduced
Waiting time of parts reduced
WIP reduced (holding/storage cost reduced)
Setup time reduced

Question 4

7 wastes

Answer 4

0 defects
0 inventories
0 setup times
0 handling
0 breakdowns
0 lead times
batch size of 1

Question 5

How is JIT production controlled?

Answer 5

Kanban card/electronic equivalent authorises manufacture of components once subsequent process complete

Question 6

How does Kanban identify wastes

Answer 6

Build-up of Kanban cards indicates more WIP & location of bottleneck

Question 7

Quality from customer’s POV

Answer 7

Does product meet needs & expectations
Quantitative - how fast/light/good value
Qualitative - attractive, brand loyalty

Question 8

Quality from manufacturer’s POV

Answer 8

Is product made to exact specification
Quantitative - tolerances in geometry, surface finish
Qualitative - visual inspection, perceived build quality

Question 9

QA

Answer 9

quality assurance - iterative system for preventing defects as far as possible
Products should be fit for purpose
Minimise mistakes so products are right 1st time

Question 10

QC

Answer 10

quality control - system for detecting defects in product/process
Used in QA to detect size & frequency of defects

Question 11

Kaizen

Answer 11

system of small & continuous improvement in a process

Question 12

Why is Kaizen more effective than trad suggestion scheme

Answer 12

Why don’t I…
Personal, fast implementation
Low operation cost
No political barriers
Everyone participates, setting own achievable goals
Good teamworking

Question 13

Six sigma

Answer 13

Statistical analysis tool to improve quality by identifying & removing causes of defects
In manufacturing aim to achieve error rate of 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO)

Question 14

Six Sigma As

Answer 14

Quantitative aim to activities designed to improve quality, save time & cut costs by improving process performance & reducing variation

Question 15

Six Sigma Ds

Answer 15

Basic process dressed up in management jargon, no statistical justification for using 6 sigmas. 3.4 DPMO arbitrary & doesn’t necessarily hold for all processes e.g. nuclear reactor rods vs drain cleaning rods

Question 15

How Taguchi developed trad Goal Post philosophy of achieving quality

Answer 15

More resolution within good (poor, fair, good, best) to account for variation in quality above standard required

Question 15

Tachuchi’s Loss Methods aim

Answer 15

minimise loss to society due to poor quality
customers lose money replacing products more often
manufacturers lose rep (lose customers)
Quality loss determined by customer dissatisfaction

Question 16

How does Taguchi suggest a manufacturer can reduce loss?

Answer 16

Design products to eliminate potential for variation during production (simply)
Use statistics to investigate parameters that vary uncontrollably in real life (weather)

Question 17

Taguchi Loss Function aim

Answer 17

Quantitatively describe loss to society
As quality of part nears its limits, increasing less likely to satisfy customers > more loss

Question 18

Knock-on effects of loss

Answer 18

Poor quality products, loss of sales
factories close
loss of jobs
loss of income to spend on products
less tax being paid

Question 19

Why would manufacturer maintain an inventory

Answer 19

JIT techniques not perfect
Economies of scale - bulk buying leads to inventory
Time - maintain supply (processes might work perfectly but not customers/suppliers)
Uncertainties - irregular order patterns, unexpected demand - inventories buffer demand

Question 20

Problems maintaining inventory

Answer 20

Large amount of WIP & finished stock (handling & storage costs) needed

Question 21

How does MRP address inventory problems?

Answer 21

materials requirement planning
Use firm orders for products & future requirements based on sales forecasts to calc. what materials ordered & when

Question 22

Aims of MRP

Answer 22

materials requirement planning
Minimise inventory levels
Ensure timely delivery of materials/products
Aid planning of manufacturing & delivery of materials/products

Question 23

2 outputs of MRP

Answer 23

materials requirement planning
Recommended Production Schedule
Recommended Purchasing Schedule

Question 24

MRP As

Answer 24

materials requirement planning improves production planning & forces companies to be more organised in other aspects e.g. marketing, purchasing

Question 25

MRP Ds

Answer 25

materials requirement planning doesn’t account for plant capacity, how many workers needed, cash needed to buy materials

Question 26

MRPII

Answer 26

Manufacturing resource planning
Overcomes limitations of MRP by coordinating production resources of manufacturing organisation across factories/sites/countries

Question 27

How does MRPII work?

Answer 27

Take MPS (master production schedule), complete rough capacity planning, modify MPS & initiate MRP process

Question 28

What does ERP do?

Answer 28

Enterprise resource planning
Extends ideas of MRPII across whole business incl. finance, human resources in addition to manufacturing

Question 29

Why is it difficult to implement ERP?

Answer 29

enterprise resource planning
Communication between all parts of a business
Managing fast evolving businesses (e-commerce)
Practicalities of installing hardware & software
Changes to working practices
Training staff in new systems

Question 30

ERP As

Answer 30

enterprise resource planning
All business systems integrated & work together
Data flows freely throughout
Minimises chance of losing important info
Better view of business, easier to make decisions
Reduces lead times through better process control i.e. data to support MRP & MRPII
Help manages complex bill-of-materials

Question 31

ERP Ds

Answer 31

enterprise resource planning
Expensive & time consuming to implement
Reduce morale (force workers to adapt to new business practices)
Removes ownership of business areas
Restricts existing process that are perceived to ‘work well already’
Problems sharing complex/sensitive data
Forcing compliance to a standard reduces competitiveness

Question 32

Lean manufacturing

Answer 32

0 wastes from JIT developed into a broader & wider looking philosophy of lean manufacturing that exists throughout supply chain

Question 33

Leanness

Answer 33

Combo of eliminating unnecessary resources (0 wastes) & increasing efficiency & effectiveness (Kaizen)

Question 34

Main areas of manufacturing leanness can be applied to?

Answer 34

Plant
Supplier network
Production development
Relationships with distributors & customers

Question 35

Tier1 to 2 supplier to an OEM As

Answer 35

original equipment manufacturer
encourages competition
Opportunities to remain as suppliers
opportunities arise from good performance (quality, cost, delivery, engineering capability)

Question 36

Agile manufacturing

Answer 36

Next step in development from lean manufacturing > take advantage of leanness to be an adaptable, rapidly responding (right product, right time) business

Question 37

Global manufacturing

Answer 37

Use philosophies of leanness & agile manufacturing to take advantage of globalisation (e.g. production located where cost/expertise exists, take advantage of local knowledge for product development/marketing)

Question 38

E-manufacturing

Answer 38

Take advantage of modern IT systems (cloud computing etc.) to breakdown geographic barriers to the business