Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business Assessment You must use this file to complete your assessment. The first thing you need to do is save a copy of this document, in a suitable location on your computer, then complete each part of the assessment after you complete the corresponding session of the course, remembering to save your work regularly. You should refer to the answers you gave in the ‘time to think’ questions which will assist you in answering the questions in the assessment. Try to answer the questions in the format requested i.e. describe, explain, identify/list, see the guidance below for this. Describe- When you are asked to describe, you must give a description i.e. write a detailed account like a story (not a list). Free flowing sentences, at least one paragraph of text. Explain-If you are asked to explain, then you must give your answer and your reasons. As with a description please make it as detailed as possible, free flowing sentences and at least. one paragraph of text. Identify/list - This can be a list, like a shopping list (can be numbers/bullet points). • When you have fully completed all three parts of the assessment go to www.vision2learn.com and send your completed assessment to your tutor via your My Study area – make sure it is clearly marked with your name, the course title and the unit and assessment number. Please note that this assessment document has 10 pages and is made up of 3 Sections. © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 1 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business Name: Josefa Rivas Alberich Section 1: A lean environment [LO1] This section will help you to evidence Learning Outcome 1: Understand the concept of a lean environment. Learning objective Place in assessment 1.1 Describe the principles of lean organisation techniques Question 1 Page 1, 2 1.2 Explain the benefits of a lean environment Question 2 Page 2 1. What are the principles of lean organisation techniques? Name and describe the 5 main principles below. [1.1] Principle 1: Specify what creates value for customers If we specify what creates value for our customers, we can then reduce or remove the activities that do not create any value so that productivity and quality are improved. Principle 2: Identify steps along the process line Identifying the activities and processes in the process line which help shape the product or service for the customer. Principle 3: Make processes flow by eliminating waste After identifying the activities and processes that create value, the processes that do not, are evident and therefore we need to find ways to reduce or remove these in order to improve productivity and quality. Principle 4: Respond to customer demand Identifying and offering what the customer needs/wants at the right time, reduces waste. © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 2 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business Principle 5: Strive for perfection by continual improvement Involving all the employees in continuously improving the processes, by looking for ways of improving the efficiency of the processes and minimising waste. 2. Explain the benefits of a lean environment. [1.2] Use your own experience (either of your workplace or an organisation that you know well) to help you evidence your answer. Alternatively, you can base your answer on the case study provided. [1.2] Foods R Us is a local supermarket in AnyTown. It tries to operate to the principles of a lean environment. Read the case study and explain the benefits of the lean environment in which Foods R Us operates. It is a small chain. It is not a 24-hour supermarket. It operates between the hours of 9am and 9pm. It has free parking. It sources its fruit and vegetables locally from the local fruit and vegetable wholesaler. The supply chain starts locally. Its staff are trained to be multi-skilled in a range of different roles. They can operate anywhere within the store and are poised to deal with the majority of customer queries themselves. Staff have a varied working day and are paid decent salaries to reflect the skills they have. It stocks a limited variety of each product. So, for example, it has 3 varieties of tinned tomatoes, 3 varieties of baked beans etc. All tinned products are available in one size only. While this limits customer choice, it does mean that Foods R Us can bulk-buy more effectively. It has a scanning system that requires customers to put each scanned item in the trolley, to be packed away from the checkout. The shop only carries stock that it requires, it does not store surplus stock in a warehouse. This means that it must buy often but also that it does not tie up any money in holding stock or paying for warehouse premises or warehouse staff. Food R Us does not have any promotional displays at the tills, or at the ends of aisles. Type your explanation below. I have decided to use the example above to explain the benefits of lean management. To start with, the fact that it is a small chain, means being able to implement changes locally rather than generally which in my opinion is better and faster. Depending on the type of customer they have there, staff, neighbourhood, the changes to implement, with the help of the staff observing and reporting, are much faster and more meaningful to the specific circumstances. Secondly, having free parking is wonderful for both employees and © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 3 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business customers as it reduces the time and the frustration of both having to find a parking space and also, it reduces delays to work for staff. In my personal opinion, I would not shop somewhere where I have to struggle to find parking no matter how good the products are. To add to the previous point, reducing time, the fact that all fruit and vegetables are sourced locally helps to reduce transport, cheaper for the business, but also helps to have better quality products for the customers and more availability (for example if it snows it is easier to transport these goods to the shops than it would be if the shops were sourced nationally). Also, they buy from wholesalers, which tend to have lower prices, good for the business and the customers. Thirdly, I find it essential that members of staff are trained multi-skilled. I think this benefits bothe the company and the staff alike. Members get paid more as they have more skills (they feel more rewarded and take more ownership) and also their working days are more varied and when you spend around 35 hours a week if you work full time, variety of tasks is important to keep your focus and your motivation. For the company, it is good as if there is sickness, for example, it is easier to manage as you can send any person to do the required jobs. Moreover, the fact that they can deal with the majority of queries/issues means you don’t necessarily need supervisors or team leaders (money saved for the company), just a few managers to deal with more complex issues, which reduces the time they take to solve customers’ issues and improves customer satisfaction. Fourthly, limiting the choice of products means they get better prices for their customers as they pay less. I will assume they are good quality products and therefore, I think this is not really an issue because customers normally want to buy at a good price and also there will always be customers interested in buying your products. For example, if I thought the tins of tomatoes they sell are too big for my household, I would still go in the shop and buy the other items I need, I like to change shops or buy what I like from one shop and other things from other shops. Linked to this is the fact they do not carry overstock, this saves them money not having to have a warehouse and extra people processing this stock, but also it means product rotation is high as products are sold before you receive more. In the end, to me it means better quality and fresher produce. This all reduces the prices, good for both customers and company image. Finally, the fact that there is a scanning system means less time spent at the checkout and queuing so that is good for the customer and the company (fewer members of staff and no queues that could deter more customers from entering the shop). I find this is linked to the fact that they have no promotional displays at the tills or at the ends. The fact of not having them at the tills, with self check-outs I think this reduces the amount of theft but in general I find this idea interesting as if they had many promotions going, they would need to constantly update prices in the scanning devices, which is costly and also you would need someone constantly dealing with any discrepancies of prices. In short, I have found the example of Food R Us a quite inspiring example of Lean Management taken to the maximum and from which I can take pretty meaningul ideas for setting up my own business. © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 4 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business Now that you have completed Section 1 of your assessment, remember to save the work you have done so far – you will need to send your work to your tutor for marking once you have completed all 3 sections of this assessment. Section 2: Implementing the productivity needs analysis process [LO2] This section will help you to evidence Learning Outcome 2: Be able to implement the productivity needs analysis process. Learning objective Place in assessment 2.1 Describe the process for conducting a productivity needs analysis. Question 1 Page 5, 6 2.2 Undertake a productivity needs analysis in a selected organisation Question 2 Page 6, 7, 8 1. Describe the process for conducting a productivity needs analysis (PNA). Use the boxes below to complete your answer. [2.1] What is the purpose of the PNA? The purpose of the productivity needs analysis is measuring the current productivity so that we can identify areas that can be improved constantly and therefore design and implement new processes to achieve this. What are the steps of the PNA and who is involved in these steps? - Measuring relevant info areas: We need to measure various types of information, which depend on the type of organisation, to be able to understand whether or not we have achieved an improvement. - Prioritise measures: Once the previous step has been achieved, we need to prioritise what measures are to be implemented first and in what order. - Set objectives: Setting objectives, processes to be improved. - Processes to reach objectives (across scales of organisation): After setting up the objectives, we need to set up the processes that will take us to reaching them in every aspect of the organisation. - Deliver required outputs to reach desired productivity: With all the new processes in place, the company can now reach the agreed level of productivity. The people involved in the PNA are the members of staff, the stakeholders and, of course, the customers. Everyone working together giving their views to achieve the best possible outcome. © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 5 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business What areas should be covered in the PNA? The areas that should be covered in the PNA will depend on the type or organisation we are trying to assess but in general they are the following: -Common data (turnover, profits…) -Customers (satisfaction, complaints…) -Delivery (on time, cost, customer wait time…) -Overheads (floor space utilisation…) -People (learning ability, satisfaction…) -Quality (Rework, number of defects, types of defects…) -Safety (Accidents, types of accidents…) -Costs (costs per unit, supplier payments…) 2. Undertake a Productivity Needs Analysis (PNA) for the organisation in the case study below. [2.2] You must remember to follow the steps of the PNA: Measuring relevant areas Prioritise measures Set objectives Processes to reach objectives (across scales of the organisation) Case study A small-scale but rapidly growing cereal manufacturer, Rise Right, is considering adopting lean organisation techniques to improve its business. Currently, the organisation produces over five types of different breakfast cereals although they would like to develop the range further. Rise Right’s production plant is too small to meet the demands of the business’ growth. In addition, it struggles to accommodate the frequent deliveries of incoming materials and outgoing finished goods. The plant itself is inconveniently 30 miles away from the organisation’s storage depots. Therefore, the transport costs to move produce to storage is an unwanted financial burden for Rise Right. If this cost and delivery issue isn’t resolved soon, Rise Right will see a considerable dip in their profits. The Product Development team at Rise Right is aware of how competitive the cereal market is. There are plans to trial two new cereal bars. If the campaign is successful and well © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 6 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business received Rise Right will look to permanently produce the bars alongside their traditional cereal. However, this will depend on customer satisfaction of price, consistency and taste. Recently, Rise Right has had some safety concerns with the team lifting raw materials into production areas. Last month, there were 24 reported incidents of spillages and injuries through incorrect manual handling. Whilst safety is usually of an incredibly high standard this minor issue is still an area of the business which needs investigating and amended in the future. Use the sections below to complete each step of your Productivity Needs Analysis. a. Which areas should be measured to increase Rise Right’s productivity? Unfortunately, Rise Right has big issues if we consider the fact that they want to expand and therefore I would think they should focus on all the areas below: Delivery: With the depot 30 miles away, this represents a big cost for the organisation. Customers: The new products will be accepted by the customers if these are right for them regarding price, consistency and taste. People: In this organisation there is an issue in the training as the people are handling materials without the proper knowledge and also care, spilling materials, which costs money to the company and also wastes time. Safety: As mentioned there are constant injuries through incorrect manual handling. Between this and spillages, there is one incident nearly every day of the month. Overheads: Floor space. This plant is too small to guarantee the company’s growth. b. Now that you’ve identified measures, prioritise the measures from most important to least important. Give reasons for your answer. People and safety: I would prioritise these two measures as they are linked and I think they can be sorted very quickly and efficiently. With one or two training sessions, they can learn to handle the materials properly and reduce spillages and accidents. Consequently, very quickly we can save the money from the spillages and also time wasted cleaning afterwards or in minor accidents due to the lack of training. As a result, people will feel safer and more motivated. © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 7 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business Customers: Every business decision should be made with the customers in mind, what do they want and expect? Especially before making big investments like two new lines of products. Delivery: I have placed this one third because the other two are easier and quicker to implement. This one requires a bigger investment of money. Overheads: This is the most costly and slow change and that is why I have placed it the last as it needs a bigger consideration. Before expanding, we need to know the clear direction of our business. c. Set objectives to close the productivity gap by suggesting what the company could do to close the productivity gap in these areas. Every member of staff to receive training on how to handle the materials and also basic health and safety to avoid accidents in a week’s time. Warnings to staff to be put in place if they do not follow the proper processes. Refresher training every year. Reducing avoidable spillages by 100% Reducing accidents by 95% Carry out an x amount of customer surveys with questions regarding what they would like to see from this company (regarding products, commercial innovations, packaging…) Discarding a product if consistently getting a 2 on scorecards. Reducing overproduction to be stored in the warehouse to the essential amount they need to keep the business going. As a result, this will reduce the amount of trips to the warehouse, until a bigger investment on infrastructure can be made. Finding/Building a bigger plant closer to the warehouse and use/reorganise this small plant for the testing of new products and initial storage of these once the new plant is operational. As new products would not be produced in massive amounts at the start, delivery of this to the warehouse would not be frequent. © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 8 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business d. What processes could be implemented to meet objectives? Think about scales of organisation (individuals, teams, departments, organisation). State the objectives you have already mentioned (in 2c) in the left-hand column. In the right-hand column, describe processes that could be implemented to close the productivity gap and conclude the PNA. Objectives Objective 1: Every member of staff to receive training on how to handle the materials and also basic health and safety to avoid accidents Objective 2: Refresher training every year Processes Buy a wall projector for the trainings. Ask managers who would like to volunteer to do the training. Allow this manager a whole morning to prepare the training. Divide the staff in different groups to receive the training so that production can still be going. As above. Keeping a record of who has attended what training and when and organise the training session every year. Objective 3: Impose warnings when members of staff do not follow the right processes (spillages, handling of materials incorrectly…) Objective 4: Reducing avoidable spillages by 100% Recording every single incident and issuing warnings to members of staff in the case of avoidable incidents when this has been as result of them not following the health and safety processes. As above. Spillages are down to lack of training, with the above training, this issue will be solved. Reducing accidents by 95 % Accidents, as above the minnor accidents mentioned, are due to lack of training as otherwise, there is a high standard. Objective 5: Reducing overproduction so that we reduce the Reducing only by 10 % should reduce the amount of trips done to the warehouse significantly. This measure is temporary until a bigger plant is available for expansion purposes and closer to the warehouse. © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 9 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business amount of trips to the warehouse until investment on a bigger place Objective 6: Find/build a bigger plant closer to the warehouse Board meeting to discuss plans Now that you have completed Section 2 of your assessment, remember to save the work you have done so far – you will need to send your work to your tutor for marking once you have completed all 3 sections of this assessment. Section 3: Producing a process map This section will help you to evidence Learning Outcome 3: Be able to produce a process map. Learning objective Place in assessment 3.1 Produce a process map using appropriate symbols and terminology for an identified process Question 1 Page 10, 11 1. Using one of the two scenarios provided, produce a process map. Make sure it includes the appropriate symbols and terminology. You can find commonly used symbols below to copy and paste into your process map. On your process map, give consideration to value added and non-value-added steps in the process and any waste which occurs. [3.1] Scenario A At a call centre, there is a set process for the disposal of confidential documents. Files are first sorted and separated depending on whether they contain confidential information or not. If the files are confidential, they are passed on to a nominated employee who is tasked with making sure the files are properly shredded and disposed of. Once shredded, the waste is placed in confidential waste bags and the confidential waste disposal team are contacted. Bags are stored in a locked cupboard until the waste disposal team arrive to securely remove the waste. When creating your process map you might consider: Passing files on Deciding which files should be shredded Documenting which files have been shredded and disposed of How waste is disposed. © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 10 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business Scenario B A large supermarket takes customer concerns very seriously and has implemented a customer complaints procedure so that they are dealt with properly. At the moment, customer complaints must be recorded in writing by a member of staff and then passed on to their line manager. Depending on the severity of the complaint, the line manager will either act upon the complaint or pass it on to a senior manager. Once a complaint has been dealt with it is then physically stored as well as documented in an electronic database. When creating your process map you might consider: Who complaints should be passed on to. Whether complaints should be acted upon. How severe the complaint is. How complaints are reported, documented and stored. Start/end flow Document Storage Process/Activity Decision – yes or no Database Flow line © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 11 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business At the moment, customer complaints must be recorded in writing by a member of staff and then passed on to their line manager. Depending on the severity of the complaint, the line manager will either act upon the complaint or pass it on to a senior manager. Once a complaint has been dealt with it is then physically stored as well as documented in an electronic database. When creating your process map you might consider: Who complaints should be passed on to. Whether complaints should be acted upon. How severe the complaint is. How complaints are reported, documented and stored. Start Recording the complaint in writing NVA Passing the complaint to line manager W Pass it on to a senior manager W Is it a severe complaint? YES NO Deal with the complaint VA Physically stored NVA/W Stored in electronic database VA + End of the complaint © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 12 Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business Now summarise your conclusions about the process. Include your consideration on valueadded and non-value-added steps in the process and any waste which occurs. In the previous case, I believe of course dealing with the complaint from a customer is adding value as that will eventually lead to improvements. However, in this case I see that there is a lot of waste in the process. Firstly, the employee has to record the complaint in writing rather than only electronically (many times complaints are received via email as well…) and because this method is not future-proof, in the end once the complaint is resolved they have to transfer the information to the electronic database, duplicating the work and that step not adding any extra value whatsoever. Secondly, the fact that the employees cannot resolve the matter creates a delay in solving the issue and waste. This may create frustration for the customer and also transferring the information from the first employee to the line manager may lead to forgetting some information, and also, questions that the line manager may ask himself or herself, what was the state of the customer? Did they look very annoyed? What words did they use to describe the situation? It is not the same to say “This was the worst experience ever” than “This experience was not what I expected but I hope it was just a one-off”. Moreover, if the writing is unclear or some details are unclear to the line manager, there is a waste of time going forward and backward trying to get all the information or even having to call the customer for further clarification, which would add to the frustration. Furthermore, if the complaint is severe the line manager has to send it to a senior manager, this means involving a third person and retelling the story with the possibility of missing more information on the way. Finally, the fact that in the end they have to store the account of the complaint, means again duplicating the work. Nowadays filing written documents, in my opinion, is a waste of time as the documents need time to be sorted, filed, they take up space and are more difficult to find in case we need to find them. I believe it is better to store the complaints only electronically and make back-up copies when scheduled. Now that you have completed all 3 sections of this assessment, go to www.vision2learn.com. Log in to the platform and send your assessment to your tutor via your My Study page for marking. Good luck! © Vision2learn (part of Knowledgepool). All rights reserved 13
