Assignment 6

1. Explain why continual quality improvement is important.

Continual improvement is fundamental to success in the global marketplace. A company

that is just maintaining the status quo in such key areas as quality, new product
development, adoption of new technologies, and process performance is like a runner
who is standing still in a race. Customer needs are not static; they change continually.

A special product feature that is considered innovative today will be considered just
routine tomorrow. A product cost that is considered a bargain today will be too high to
compete tomorrow. A good case in point in this regard is the ever-falling price for each
new feature introduced in the personal computer. The only way a company can hope to
compete in the modern marketplace is to improve continually.

2. What is the managements role in continual quality development?

The picture of a company reaping big rewards through quality improvement is

incomplete unless it includes some realities that have been unwelcome to most upper
managers. Chief among these realities is the fact that the upper managers must
participate personally and extensively in the effort. It is not enough to establish policies,
create awareness, and then leave all else to subordinates. That has been tried, over
and over again, with disappointing results (Juran on Leadership for Quality).

Management can play the necessary leadership roleand that essentially is its rolein
continual improvement by doing 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 is the name given by the Japanese to the concept of continual incremental
improvement. Kai means change and zen means good. Kaizen, therefore, means
making changes for the better on a continual, never-ending basis. The improvement
aspect of Kaizen refers to people, processes, and products.

Elements of kaizen

The Five-Step Plan is the Japanese approach to implementing:

Step 1: Straighten up. This step involves separating the necessary from the
unnecessary and getting rid of the unnecessary in such areas as tools, work in process,
machinery, products, papers, and documents.
Step 2: Put things in order. This step involves putting such things as tools and material
in their proper place and keeping things in order so that employees can always find
what they need to do the job without wasting time looking.
Step 3: Clean up. This step involves keeping the workplace clean so that work can
proceed in an efficient manner, free of the problems that can result when the work site is
messy.
Step 4: Standardize. This step was originally aimed at standardizing how the first three
of the Five-Ss were implemented and maintained, but since then expanded to include
standardizing on best practices. Visual management is also a major component of
standardization.
Step 5: Discipline. This step involves careful adherence to standardized work
procedures. This requires discipline

4. How would you describe a lean system?

Lean was originally developed as a manufacturing concept and, as such, is often

referred to as lean manufacturing .However, as has happened with so many quality
managementrelated concepts, the service sectorimpressed with the results enjoyed
by practitioners of lean manufacturing began to adopt and adapt the concept to this
sector. Consequently, we use the term Lean in this book to convey the message that the
concept can be applied with good results in the manufacturing and service sectors. The
purpose of adopting Lean as a business improvement method is to produce better
products or deliver better services using fewer resources. If the concept had a motto, it
would be doing more with less and doing it better.

5. What is lean six-sigma and how would you apply it to a quality

management system?

The name Lean Six Sigma has to be understood before we go any further. Failure to do
so will lead to a misunderstanding of the concept itself and its purpose. Clarification is
best begun by stating what Lean Six Sigma is not. It most definitely is not some kind of
a Lite Six Sigma, like an improvement system designed for those who only want a little
improvement or who dont want to be bothered by the details of Six Sigma. The
objective of Lean Six Sigma is to make the organization superior in its day-to-day work
and processes, its products and services, and its business results. This has also been
the objective of many organizations that have found that Lean alone, or Six Sigma by
itself, did not quite provide all the results needed in their quest for a better competitive
posture. A lot of those organizations have found that by combining Lean with Six Sigma,
significant performance gains relative to processes, products, services, employees,
customer satisfaction, and the business bottom line have been realized.

Advantages of Lean Six Sigma include:

 Elimination of the Eight Wasteswaiting, overproduction, rework, motion,
transportation, processing, inventory, and intellect
Means of improving process flow whether on the manufacturing floor, in an office,
or any other setting
A structured means for identifying the key factors that determine the performance
of all kinds of processes
Ordered methods for establishing key factors at the best possible level
Disciplined means of sustaining key factors at the best level
Synergistic advantage of linking the Lean tools with the Six Sigma tools in a
systematic way and in a specified sequence
Tying all of these to the financial health of the organization

6. Define benchmarking. Define auditing. How does benchmarking and

auditing relate to each other?

Benchmarking is the process of comparing and measuring an organization's operations

or its internal process against those of a best in class performer from inside or outside
its industry. Benchmarking is a tool that helps establish where improvement resources
should be allocated and is concerned with processes and practices. It is a mean of
identifying processes that require a major change.

Auditing is a quality improvement process where performance is measured against

predetermined standards or criteria, which are considered to be important indicators of
overall performance. There always will be predetermined standards within defined
parameters, against which the performance will be evaluated. Changes then can be
implemented to improve standards.

Basically, audit is a too; that can compare actual work with the plans and expectations,
while benchmarking is an outward looking tool. It compares the performance of
company/project against the performance conducted by leading companies or
competitors.

7. How can you apply benchmarking data in auditing process, systems,

designs, products, factories and services?

At the conclusion of the benchmarking project with your partner, data analysis will have
produced both quantitative and qualitative information. The quantitative information is
effectively the stake driven into the ground as the point from which future progress is
measured. It is also used as the basis for improvement objectives. Qualitative
information covers such matters as personnel policies, training, management styles and
hierarchy, total quality maturity, and so on. This information provides insights on how the
benchmarking partner got to be best-in-class.

The quantitative data are clearly the information sought and are always used. However,
there may be more value in the qualitative information. It describes the atmosphere and
environment in which best-in-class can be developed and sustained. Do not ignore it.
Take it very seriously. Study it, discuss it in staff meetings, and explore the possibilities
of introducing these changes into your culture.

The benchmarking process is shown in the figure below.

8. What is a JIT system?

This manufacturing system was initially developed by Taiichi Ohno in the 1950s as the
successor to Henry Fords mass production system. Ohno named it the Toyota
Production System (TPS). Since it involved making products only when needed from
materials that were made available by suppliers only as required, just-in-time
(JIT) became its generic name.

Just-in-time/Lean is producing only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the

quantity that is needed. It is a 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. A good example would be a car manufacturer that
operates with very low inventory levels, relying on their supply chain to deliver the parts
they need to build cars. The parts needed to manufacture the cars do not arrive before
nor after they are needed, rather they arrive just as they are needed. This inventory
supply system represents a shift away from the older "just in case" strategy where
producers carried large inventories in case higher demand had to be met.

9. What are the benefits of JIT/Lean?

Benefits of JIT/Lean are four very important topics: inventory and work-in-process, cycle
time, continual improvement, and elimination of waste. The discussion could be
expanded to include such topics as reduced time-to-market, improved employee work
life, flexibility, and employee ownership. All of these are definite benefits of JIT/Lean, but
this discussion will be confined to the critical four mentioned. These are the usual
targets of a JIT/Lean implementation.

10. Discuss the automation system ideas for JIT/Lean.

It is frequently found that the need for automation is decreased or eliminated by

converting to JIT/Lean. JIT/Lean and automation are compatible, but one should look
long and hard at the need, and the companys readiness for it, before automating
processes.

Having said that automation clearly has its place in harmony with JIT/Lean. There are
many examples of very successful automated plants, especially for high-volume
manufacturing. Automation and JIT/Lean are completely compatible. Probably the best
example of that is in todays auto industry. Two such plants have recently come on-line
in Alabama and Georgia. Hyundai opened its first American plant in Montgomery,
Alabama, in May 2005, making 300,000 vehicles per year there. The Alabama-produced
Sonata sedan has been ranked in the top three in J. D. Power and Associates mid-size
sedan category in 2008, 2009, and 2010. This plant is one of the first designed from the
ground up as a highly automated JIT/Lean auto production facility. A tour of the plant will
convince the fervent skeptic that it has taken the auto industry into a new era in which
JIT/Lean and automation are superbly blended. Where traditional auto plants tended to
be dark, noisy, grimy, smelly, hot, and frantic in the hustle and bustle, Hyundais
Montgomery plant is none of that. No matter where you are in the plant, the atmosphere
is almost soothing, and it is certainly one of the most pleasant factories of any type that
the authors have ever visited. It is a place where the 2,300 employees genuinely seem
to enjoy working. And it doesnt end there. An hour from Montgomery, up Interstate 85 in
West Point, Georgia, Kia Motors opened a sister plant of the same size and capacity,
using the same automation technology and, of course, JIT/Lean. The first Kia Sorento
rolled off that line in November 2009.

Social Networking Articles

1. Proterra Announces Delivery Of 100th All-Electric Bus

Summary: Proterra, electric bus manufacturer, has announced the delivery of the
100th all-electric bus. Overall it has now supplied 36 municipal, commercial and transit
customers across 20 states. San Joaquin is the first agency in Northern California to
provide all-electric technology with 12 Proterra buses in their fleet. By today Proterra
buses have traveled more than 3.1 mil miles curtailing the emission of approximately
6.000 tons of greenhouse emissions. The use of all-electric buses has reduced fuel and
maintenance costs by more than $2 million.

My view: The fact that all-electric buses are starting to be in demand is great. Even
though people have started using hybrid and electric cars, public transport still remains
to be one of the biggest CO2 emissaries. The example of San Joaquin shows that not
only the transition from traditional to all-electric with zero emission buses is possible, but
that it also is cost-effective.

Discussion link: https://groups.google.com/forum/?

utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!topic/sonetw/JcaKWFRQafM

2. E-Boats, Anyone? Electric Boat Market To Reach $20 Billion By 2027,

According To New Study

Summary: Electric boats and vehicles have been manufactured and are in use since
many years. The article states that since the maintenance costs and the environmental
costs of the boats powered by fossil fuels is huge, pure electric or hybrid electric boats
would become widespread in the coming years. Small and medium boats only have
pure electric driven systems, whereas hybrid electric systems are used for larger boats.

Although, they have many advantages which include easier autonomous navigation,
better acceleration, quiet or no-sound features, reducing air or water pollution, still there
will be a long wait before it can be commercialized on a large scale because of its cost
and affordability.
The question here is how long it will take for the battery costs to go down.

My view: It came as news to me that electric driven boat have existed since 1890 and i
cannot help but wonder why this technology hasn't developed and became common
yet? Using electric boats and vehicles seems to have lots of advantages bot water and
air, and noise pollution wise. But has the technology developed enough to use pure
electric driven systems? How much will they cost (even with new energy saving and
energy storage technologies it seems to be expensive and not safe enough). Maybe at
this point hybrids can be a safer option.

Discussion link: https://groups.google.com/forum/?

utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!topic/sonetw/jZ2OL2jnSx8

3. The Deceiving & Often Counterproductive Appeal of Uber, Lyft, & More
Convenient Transport

Summary: Based on research study done by Mr.Alejandro Henao, this article talk about
how lack of infrastructure for bike and transit service is affecting day to day travelers to
uch more rely on demand taxi services such as uber and lyft. It also address that US
does not have enough and convenient mass transit to cover the needs. Further, it looks
at hourly wage of a driver in reality compare to corporate advertisement.
My view: This article is interesting and discuss the point that is not very popular - how
ride services add traffic and emissions to already existing problems. The main issue
addressed is the research, conducted by Alejandro Henao and whether the public
transportation can provide efficient substitution to Uber or Lyft and other taxi services.
But in my opinion in the US public transport system is underdeveloped in the first place
(in comparison to European countries for example). Having a personal auto has been a
part of culture for a long time and it has started to change recently when big cities
started to choke in traffic. Maybe in cities like New York where subway and bus routes
are efficient using taxi services is a waste of money, time, and pollution. But in Orlando,
Florida, the public transport is way less convenient, using ride services is justified.

Discussion link: https://groups.google.com/forum/?

utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!topic/sonetw/d177JrBp9Og