Module 2 - Process Mapping & Lean Methods

Question 1

Mass Production is a term used to describe a system of manufacturing that takes advantage of ___ __ ___.
AKA ___ & ____
Lead time is _____.

Answer 1

economies of scale.
AKA batch & queue
Lead time is long.

Question 2

Mass production is associated with push or pull systems?

Answer 2

Push systems because the decisions need to be made far ahead of time

Question 3

Mass production systems should be when:
– demand forecasts have (low/high forecast errors?
–manufacturing setup costs are (low/high)?
–resource (particularly labor) costs are (low/high)?

Answer 3

Mass production systems work best when demand forecasts have low forecast errors, manufacturing setup costs are high, or resource (particularly labor) costs are high

Question 4

Lean Production refers to a production system that seeks to _____ _____ during the production of goods and services.
AKA ___.
Lead time is ___.

Answer 4

eliminate waste
TPS - Toyota Production System
Lead time is short.

Question 5

What is JIT and what does it stand for?
Which production system is it associated with? Is it typical a push or pull system?

Answer 5

Just-in-time - production is synchronized with demand
Lean (TPS)
Pull system

Question 6

Describe pull system

Answer 6

products are moved based on actual customer demand

Question 7

Push system - products are moved based on _____ customer demand

Answer 7

forecasted

Question 8

What is the five step process for applying Lean to a production operation?

Answer 8

1. Specify value (from each customer’s perspective).
2. Map the value stream (i.e., the flow of products).
3. Optimize product flow (by removing waste to minimize interruptions in flow).
4. Establish pull system (so that work can be synchronized with customer demand).
5. Strive for perfection (where the goal is zero waste).

Question 9

Value stream map is used for what? What is it a part of? What is it?

Answer 9

The second step in the lean process analysis. It’s a pictorial representation of the current process. Used for analyzing the current process and designing a future process.

Question 10

The swim lane structure is particularly important because….?

Answer 10

… many problems occur with the handoff of information across functional boundaries.

Question 11

Best-case flow time (called the theoretical flow time) will be much less than the flow times experienced in reality. Give an example.

Answer 11

Although the time the technician takes to repair your bicycle may be 30 minutes, the shop will typically ask you to leave your bicycle for several hours or overnight. Many reasons exist for the gap between the theoretical flow time (30 minutes) and the actual flow time (say, 1 day). Examples include other bicycles in queue waiting for repair, inability of the technician to find or obtain necessary parts, and readjustments that may be necessary to get the brakes “right.”

Question 12

Define value-added activities

Answer 12

Activities for which customers are willing to pay

Question 13

Lean practitioners often use the Japanese term ____ when referring to a wasteful activity.
What are the two groups?

Answer 13

Muda
(a) Type I muda – wasteful activities that are currently necessary
(b) Type II muda – wasteful activities that are absolutely unnecessary

The long lead time that characterizes mass production systems is dominated by muda (transportation, machine setup, waiting in queue, etc.).

Question 14

Name the 7 wastes that apply to manufacturing

Answer 14

Waiting
Inventory
Defects
Motion
Over-Processing
Overproduction
Transportation

Question 15

A Kaizen Event is a ….. designed to…?
Translated as…?

Answer 15

When a team will be formed and a focused one- to five-day effort will ensue called kaizen event. Designed to support an effective, short-term brainstorming session that focuses on a single challenge and improves an existing process.
The term is loosely translated from the Japanese to “change for the good.”

Question 16

Categorize the following service-related wasteful activities:
(a) an accountant verifying a financial calculation,
(b) an engineer creating PowerPoint slides,
(c) a technician resolving a customer complaint,
(d) a clerk entering data,
(e) a customer waiting in line at a bank
(i) walking to the copier

Answer 16

(a) over-processing,
(b) over-processing,
(c) defects,
(d) over-processing,
(e) waiting
(i) motion

Question 17

Describe a Fishbone Diagram.
What is used for categorization?

Answer 17

documents all potential causes of a problem that are known by a project team, organized in a hierarchical format.
Some analysts use the “6 M’s” as a form of categorization: Man, Machines, Measurements, Methods, Materials, and Milieu (or Management)

Question 18

Check sheet

Answer 18

keeps track of things (ie- types of issues) using tally markers

Question 19

Pareto Chart. Describe it. Why is it useful to à team?

Answer 19

shows how minority of possible causes could be responsible for a high majority of the impacts of problems.
(Histogram w line over it).

The Pareto chart is useful because it prevents a project team from solving problem that have minor impacts on customers

Question 20

Adding a trend line to every scatterplot is a good idea. True/False?

Answer 20

False. It can bias a viewer by implying
(a) a relationship between the two variables exists, and
(b) that the relationship is liner.

Question 21

Service processes share a number of common structural characteristics. Which 6 are not be found to the same extent in manufacturing?

Answer 21

(a) main flow unit is information,
(b) significant task variability,
(c) cross-functional process flows,
(d) many handoffs of information,
(e) hidden benefits and costs, and
(f) no explicit motivation for urgency.

Question 22

Developing the standard work method in Lean is the responsibility of _____.
What does it prescribe?

Answer 22

the employees, NOT the managers

It prescribes how process activities are accomplished (ie: documentation)

Question 23

What does SMED stand for?
It’s made to reduce what?
Describe external vs internal implementation?

Answer 23

Single-Minute Exchange of Dies.
–lean methods for reducing the time it takes to setup/chance equipment; to reduce long manufacturing setup times to less than 10 minutes
–“externally” (i.e., while the process is working on the prior task) and “internally” (wasteful)

Question 24

Poka-yoke

Answer 24

Mistake-proofing
– used to develop processes that cannot be done incorrectly

Question 25

Jidoka

Answer 25

refers to the transfer of human intelligence to automated machinery so that a machine can stop itself immediately when a defective part is found
1. stop production immediately when an abnormality is detected, so that action to find and eliminate its root cause can be undertaken.
2. build processes and equipment that will not let a defective product move to the next operation.
3. separate machine work from human work

Question 26

Visual Controls

Answer 26

involves the communication of important information in a public and commonly understood format

Question 26

A _______ ____is a type of organization allows parts to move more efficiently from one process to the next, eliminating a great deal of transportation time (i.e., waste) and excess inventory (i.e., waste).
In Lean, we call this organization _____ ____, because it eliminates the need to have a queue of products in front of each and every process

Answer 26

manufacturing cell

single-piece flow (only effective when production resources are well maintained and activity times at each process are similar)

Question 27

Name 7 Lean Operating Techniques.
Hint: Categories include:
-3 that enhance process effectiveness
-2 that ensure quality
-2 that enhance communication across processes

Answer 27

-Standard work, 5 S’s, SMED (effectiveness)
-Jidoka, poka-yoke (quality)
-Kanban, visual controls (communication)

Question 27

Heijunka

Answer 27

involves leveling the volume and product mix of production over a set period of time. (Ie: if customer demand is 200 on Monday and 20 on Tuesday, the team should make 90 per day)

Question 28

What is Kanban?
What does it translate to?

Answer 28

Kanban (“instruction card” in Japanese)
-is a simple pull system for inventory control -production takes place only to replace items that have been “bought” by customers

Question 29

What are the two types of Kanban cards?

Answer 29

1. Withdraw or Conveyance Kanban (signals the need to move parts from the supplier process to the customer process)
2. Production Kanban (signals the need for production (or purchase) of an item)

Question 30

Can a Kanban system work in a facility that has long setup times?

Answer 30

No, the Kanban system relies on prompt refilling of containers in an environment where production quantities are small and not planned in advance. In the case of long setup times, there could be significant nonproductive time (i.e., doing setups) and process managers could not plan setup activities in advance.

Question 31

What happens to result in takt time?

Answer 31

When flow rates for a set of processes in a flow line are constant and production processes are reliable, the system can be synchronized with customer demand. The resulting production frequency is takt time

Question 32

What is the equation for takt time?
ie:
-customer demand=1600 units per week
-facility operates 80 hours per week

Answer 32

Takt time = 1/R
ie:
—R = rate = demand / operation
—R = 20 units per hour – calculated by dividing 1600 (units/week) by 80 (hours/week).
-takt time = 1 / R = 1/20 = 0.05 hrs per unit (3 minutes per unit)
On this flow line, each process would be designed so that it produced one part every 3 minutes.

Question 34

The four main elements of standardized work are:

Answer 34

takt time, line balancing, work sequence and standard in-process stock.

Question 35

The collection of process data can be enhanced by data collection forms that reduce the likelihood of data entry errors, can be updated in real time, and collect data in a form that is useful for preliminary analysis. They can take various forms, such as ___

Answer 35

Check sheets

Question 36

What are the Seven Basic Tools of Quality

Answer 36

They are An effective set of tools for collecting and analyzing data (such as fishbone, Pareto chart, check sheet, scatterplot, control chart, flowchart, histogram)

Question 37

Why will an “andon” will be used?

Answer 37

to stop production when a problem is discovered (such as when a takt time cannot be achieved due to a missing tool).