ASSIGNMENT-6

1. Explain why continual quality improvement is important.

Continual Quality Improvement is important because it helps to identify sub-optimal
processes in a business company and changing them to reduce defects and improve
Quality.
Error Reduction:
Continuous Quality Improvement helps in reducing number of errors . There are various
types of errors that can occur in industry. Defective products, Lack of services are some
of the errors.
Increased Adaptability:
Continuous Improvement helps in making an industry to adapt to changes that happen
marketwise and also company wise. Companies used to continually implementing
changes are better equipped to adapt their businesses to changing markets than those that
employ rigid processes, such companies engaged in mass production.
Increased Productivity:
Continuous Quality improvement leads in increased productivity. Better Quality demand
increases number of products. This in turn helps in increased productivity.
2. What is managements role in continual quality improvement?
Management plays necessary leadership role that is needed in a company .In continual
Improvement, this can be done by the following:
Establishing an organization-wide quality council and serving on it.
Working with the quality council to establish specific quality improvement goals
with timetables and target dates.
Providing the necessary moral and physical support. Moral support manifests
itself as commitment. Physical support comes in the form of the resources needed
to accomplish the quality improvement objectives.
Scheduling periodic progress reviews and giving recognition where it is deserved.
Building continual quality improvement into the regular reward system, including
promotions and pay increases.

3. Discuss the Kaizen approach

Kaizen means making changes for the better on a continual, never-ending basis. The
improvement part of Kaizen refers to people, processes, and products.

Elements of Kaizen
Kaizen is a team based approach towards implementing process changes in small
increments. Its goal is to identify waste by forcing production problems to surface so that
they become visible for everyone to see. Once identified, such problems are solved with
worker consensus.
To ensure that the kaizen mindset is being followed and that every individual's creativity
is being fully utilized, the following three rules are commonly prescribed:
1. Spend no money
2. Add no people
3. Add no space
In practice, results will be just the opposite; kaizen will reduce costs, space requirements
and cycle time. Of course, since it is continuous, as soon as one set of problems are
solved, new problems surface which must be overcome. By going through this process,
the production system becomes stronger and stronger.
Kaizen Five Step:
Sort:
Remove unnecessary items from the work area. Attach removal tags to infrequently used
items.
Set in Order:
Customize the work area to improve efficiency.
Keep important materials nearby.
Shine:
Clean the work area, equipment and tools. Eliminate the contamination sources.
Standardize:
Maintain and monitor the 3S
Create a consistent, standardized 5s workflows. Assign tasks and create schedules so that
everyone knows their responsibilities.

Sustain:
Ensure 5S runs long-term. Analyze the results and hold meetings on the 5S importance.
Implement changes if needed in order to attain Quality improvement and high Efficiency.
4. How would you describe a lean system?

Lean is a systemic method for the elimination of waste within a manufacturing process.
Lean also takes into account waste created through overburden and waste created through
unevenness in work loads. Working from the perspective of the client who consumes a
product or service, "value" is any action or process that a customer would be willing to
pay for.
Lean System is to eradicate seven wastes that is noticed in Ford Mass production/
The Seven Wastes of Lean Manufacturing are;
Transport
Inventory
Motion
Waiting
Over-Processing
Overproduction
Defects

Seven Wastes

5. What is lean six sigma and how would you apply it to a quality management
system?
Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that relies on a collaborative team effort to improve
performance by systematically removing waste, combining lean manufacturing/lean
enterprise and Six Sigma to eliminate the eight kinds of waste: defects, overproduction,
waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, extra-processing. LSS is a
methodology that allows organizations to Maximize shareholder value by the fastest rate
of improvement in customer satisfaction, cost, quality, process, speed and invested
capital. It helps in improving performance, develop effective leadership, gather customer
satisfaction and gain bottom line results.
6. Define benchmarking?
A measurement of the quality of an organization's policies, products, programs,
strategies, etc., and their comparison with standard measurements, or similar
measurements of its peers.
The objectives of benchmarking are
1. To determine what and where improvements are called for
2. To analyze how other organizations achieve their high performance levels
3. To use this information to improve performance.
7. How can you apply benchmarking data?
The following are the steps involved:
1. Understand the companys current process performance gaps.
2. Obtain support and approval from the executive leadership team.
3. Document benchmarking objectives and scope.
4. Document the current process.
5. Agree on the primary metrics.
6. The metrics should be put in writing.
7. Agree on what to benchmark.
8. Develop a data collection plan.
9. Identify research sources and initiate data gathering.
10. Design a screening survey to assist with partner selection.
11. Determine how to contact and screen companies.
12. Design a detailed survey to gather information.
13. Decide if gathered information meets original objectives.
14. Conduct a site visit.
15. Apply the learnings to performance gaps.
16. Communicate to the executive leadership to ensure continued support.
17. Develop a recommended implementation plan with process owner.
18. Know when to update and recalibrate.

8. What is JIT system?

This tool is used to ensure that items are delivered to the next cellular step in the process
just in time to be used. JIT is the antidote to work piling up at one station while another
station has nothing. An inventory strategy companies employ to increase efficiency and
decrease waste by receiving goods only as they are needed in the production process,
thereby reducing inventory costs. This method requires that producers are able to
accurately forecast demand.
9. What are the benefits of JIT/lean?
The benefits of JIT/Lean must include four very important topics: inventory and work-inprocess, cycle time, continual improvement, and elimination of waste.
Inventory and Work in process: Work-in-process inventory is inventory that has been
partially converted through the production process, but for which additional work must
be completed before it can be transported out of the manufacturing area and recorded as
finished goods inventory
Cycle Time: Cycle time is the total time from the beginning to the end of your process,
as defined by you and your customer. Cycle time includes process time, during which a
unit is acted upon to bring it closer to an output, and delay time, during which a unit of
work is spent waiting to take the next action.
In a nutshell Cycle Time is the total elapsed time to move a unit of work from the
beginning to the end of a physical process.
Continual Improvement: continual improvement process, also often called a continuous
improvement process (abbreviated as CIP or CI), is an ongoing effort to improve
products, services, or processes. These efforts can seek "incremental" improvement over
time or "breakthrough" improvement all at once. Delivery (customer valued) processes
are constantly evaluated and improved in the light of their efficiency, effectiveness and
flexibility.
10. Discuss automation system ideas for JIT/lean
Automation is very advantageous in many applications, but before adapting to this human
operated versions must be solved. It is found that the need of automation is decreased or
eliminated by converting to JIT/Lean. The automation idea is not so efficient to
implement in JIT/Lean. JIT/Lean and automation are compatible, but one ought to look
long and hard at the need, and companys readiness for it, before automating processes.