The lean pocket handbook for kaizen events

MAN 4584 – Process Improvement Methodologies Assignment Series Project Week 2 - Assignment 1 This week students need to select a process improvement project to work on during this course. There are four parts to this mini-project that students will do throughout this course (read all four parts due Week 2, 4, 6, and 8 before continuing with this assignment to understand how this breaks down in the coming weeks, in the Course Materials there is a file with all 4 parts to easily print, link). Students may select something at work (i.e. a process or quality issue that can be pursued to help grow your career) or it may be something that will simply make your life easier at home (i.e. getting ready in the morning/evening for work, cooking a meal, etc.). 1. Select One Process to Map - Do not pick a huge project as we have a limited amount of time in this class. Do not pick a process that you have no control over as you will be required to implement at least one improvement or change to the process during this course. If your become overwhelmed in this part of the project with defining the process you select, you should consider reducing the scope to a smaller project. This course requires students to learn and apply the methodologies in the lessons to define, analyze, and improve the process they select. So be sure that you have the fundamental knowledge needed on the process selected so you can focus on evaluating how to apply the lessons and methodologies as required to the project. 2. Assign Ownership and Roles - While this is an individual project, you will need to get family, co-workers, or other stakeholders in the process involved to support you with completing these assignments. Make sure everyone knows and approves of what you are going to do for your improvement project and when you will need to finish the various parts of this project. Make sure they understand that there are specific steps you have to follow to meet your course requirements on this project and that you will also need their support to provide you with input in order to complete the assignments. 3. Analyze Process Boundaries – Identify where the selected process starts and stops, as well as other processes that interface with this process. Make sure you clearly understand your process boundaries or limitations for this improvement project. 4. Map Process - Select any of the mapping tools covered in your textbook, supplemental articles, or lecture in the Week 2 lesson. This map of your selected process should be detailed enough that others could follow your process and have the same result or output as you. a. Identify the outputs and customers for the process. b. Identify inputs and suppliers for the process. c. Map the tasks and decisions needed to transform the inputs into the outputs for the process. d. Define customer expectations for performance for this process (translate these goals and objectives into measureable metrics for the process). Include what the current metrics or measures of performance are operating at for this process. Students must have at least 3 metrics or measures for their process. 5. Verify Accuracy - Walk through the process definition, map, and metrics with other process owners or stakeholders relative to your selected process. Explain how this process was verified and updated from their feedback. 6. Identify Lessons Learned - Include challenges and experiences while doing this assignment. Generalize what you learned for use in later process improvement projects. Submit Assignment 1 on Sunday at end of Week 2 by 11:55 PM (EST). This submission should be in APA format with all references cited appropriately (please see example paper (link), further examples are in the lesson action items). Some frequently asked questions (link) and grading rubrics (link) for this assignment are included in the Course Materials. Week 3 and 4 - Assignment 2 This week students need to take the process improvement project defined in Week 2 and analyze that process for waste or non-value added activities. 1. Waste Audit – Review the online lecture and pg. 12-15 in The Lean Pocket Handbook for Kaizen Events. After completing this with textbook and supplemental article readings, you should have sufficient knowledge to critically identify wastes in your defined process. Challenge your current thinking about the process when analyzing potential issues (see waste you never quite saw before, target 3 per category).