COMPETENCY BASED

LEARNING MATERIALS

Sector:
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)
Qualification:
VISUAL GRAPHIC DESIGN NCIII
Unit of Competency:

USE RELEVANT TECHNOLOGIES

Module Title:

USING RELEVANT TECHNOLOGIES

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
ICI - Bugo
3rd floor Del Monte Cooperative Building,
Zone 3, Bugo, Cagayan de Oro City

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 How to Use This Competency Based Learning Material

Welcome to the module in Using Relevant Technologies. This module contains training
materials and activities for you to complete. The unit of competency “Use Relevant Technologies”
contains knowledge, skills and attitudes required for Visual Graphic Design NC III. It is one of the
specialized modules at National Certificate Level.

You are required to go to a series of learning activities in order to complete each learning
outcome of the module. In each learning outcome are Information Sheets and Resources Sheets
(Reference Materials for further reading to help you better understand and required activities).
Follow these activities on your own and answer the self – check at the end of each learning outcome.
You may remove a blank answer sheet at the end of each module (or get one from your
facilitator/trainer) to write your answers for each self – check. If you have question, do not hesitate
to ask your facilitator for assistance.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

You may already have some or most of the knowledge and skills covered in this learner’s
guide because you have:

 Been working for some time.

 Already completed training in this area.

If you can demonstrate to your trainer that you are competent in a particular skill or skills,
talk to him/her about having them formally recognized so you don’t have to do the same training
again. If you have a qualification or Certificate of Competency from previous trainings, show it to
your trainer. If the skills you acquired are still current and relevant to the unit/s of competency that
may become part of the evidence you can present for RPL. Of you are not sure about the currency of
your skills, discuss this with your trainer.

At the end of this module is a Learner’s Diary. Use this diary to record important dates, jobs
undertaken and other workplace events that will assist, you in providing further details to your
trainer or assessor. A Record of Achievements is also provided for your trainer to complete once you
complete the module.

This module was prepared to help you achieve the required competency in Using Relevant
Technologies. This will be the source of information for you to acquire knowledge and skills in this
particular trade independently and at your own pace, with minimum supervision or help from your
instructor.

 Talk to your trainer and agree on how you will organize the Training of this unit. Read
through the module carefully. It is divided into sections, which cover all the skills, and
knowledge you need to successfully complete this module.

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  Work through all the information and complete the activities in each section. Read
information sheets and complete the self – check. Suggested references are included to
supplement the materials provided in this module.
 Most probably your trainer will also be your supervisor or manager. He/she is there to
support you and show the correct way to do things.
 Your trainer will tell you about the important things you need to consider when you are
completing activities and it’s important that you listen and takes notes.
 You will be given plenty of opportunity to ask questions and practice on the job. Make sure
you practice your new skills during regular work shifts. This way you will improve both your
speed and memory and also your confidence.
 Talk to more experience workmates and ask for their guidance.
 Use the self – check questions and the end of each section to test your own progress.
 When you are ready, ask your trainer to watch you perform the activities outlined on this
module.
 As you work through the activities, ask for written feedback on your progress. Your trainer
keeps feedback/pre – assessment reports for this reason. When you have successfully
completed each element, ask your trainer to marks on the reports that you are ready for
assessment.
 When you have completed this module (or several modules), and feel confident that you
have had sufficient practice, your trainer will arrange an appointment with registered
assessor to assess you. The result of your assessment will be recorded in your Competency
Achievement Record.

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UNIT OF COMPETENCY
CODE
MODULE TITLE
MODULE DESCRIPTOR
NOMINAL DURATION
: USE RELEVANT TECHNOLOGIES
: 500311114
: USING RELEVANT TECHNOLOGIES
: This unit covers the knowledge, skills and attitudes required in
selecting, sourcing and applying appropriate and affordable
technologies in the workplace
: 8 Hrs.

SUMMARY OF LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Upon completion of this module, the students/ trainees must be able to:

LO 1. Study / select appropriate technology.

LO 2. Apply relevant technology.
LO 3. Maintain / enhance relevant technology.

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LO 1. STUDY / SELECT APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:

1. Appropriate technology is studied based on work requirements.

2. Appropriate technology is identified and selected based on work requirements.

CONTENTS:

 Machineries/ equipment and their application

 Software/ programs

CONDITION:

The students/trainees must be provided with the following:

 Manuals
 Hand-outs
 Multimedia
 Video tape
 Brochures
 CD’s
 Internet access
 Computer

METHODOLOGIES:

 Lecture
 Self-pace
 Group discussion
 Film showing

ASSESSMENT METHODS:

 Written
 Interview

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LO 2. APPLY RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

ASSESSMENT CRTERIA:

1. Relevant technology is used in carrying out function based on work requirements.

2. Applicable software and hardware is used as per job requirement.
3. Management concept are observed as per established industry practices.

CONTENTS:

 Office technology
 Industrial technology
 System technology
 Information technology
 Training technology
 Different software / Hardware
 5S (Proper House Keeping)

CONDITION:

The students/trainees must be provided with the following:

 Manuals
 Hand-outs
 Multimedia
 Video tape
 Brochures
 CD’s
 Internet access
 Computer

METHODOLOGIES:

 Lecture
 Self-pace
 Group discussion
 Film showing

ASSESSMENT METHODS:

 Written
 Interview

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LO 3. MAINTAIN / ENHANCE RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:

1. Maintenance of technology is applied in accordance with the industry standard

operating procedure, manufacturer’s operating guidelines and occupational health
and safety procedure
2. Updating of technology is maintained through continuing education or training in
accordance with job requirement.
3. Appropriate action for technology failure/ defect is immediately reported to the
concerned/ responsible person or section.

CONTENTS:

 Corrective and preventive maintenance

 Upgrading of technology
 Communication Skills
 Organizational set–up / work flow

CONDITION:

The students/trainees must be provided with the following:

 Manuals
 Hand-outs
 Multimedia
 Video tape
 Brochures
 CD’s
 Internet access
 Computer

METHODOLOGIES:

 Lecture
 Self-pace
 Group discussion
 Film showing

ASSESSMENT METHODS:

 Written
 Interview

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Learning Outcome # 1: STUDY / SELECT APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

Learning Activities Special Instructions

1. Read the following topics.

1.1 Read information Sheet #1
Read and Study the given information
1.2 Read information Sheet #2
1.3 Read information Sheet #3

Class Activity Team Building Activity

Learning Outcome # 1: STUDY / SELECT APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheet #1

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Learning Outcome # 1: STUDY / SELECT APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheet #2

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Learning Outcome # 1: STUDY / SELECT APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheet #3

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 CLASS ACTIVITY

Learning Outcome # 1: STUDY / SELECT APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheets 1 – 3

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Learning Outcome # 2: APPLY RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Learning Activities Special Instructions

2. Read the following topics.

2.1 Read information Sheet #1
Read and Study the given information
2.2 Read information Sheet #2
2.3 Read information Sheet #3
Class Activity Team Building Activity

Learning Outcome # 2: APPLY RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheet # 1

Office technology: Productivity boost or time sink?

That mini-tower by your desk, that tablet by your bedside, the netbook you use on the commuter
train, the 3G smartphone that's always within reach -- they're powerful, essential tools of the office,
right? They do for white-collar productivity what the assembly line did for factory productivity -- isn't
that obvious?

Well, maybe. Or maybe not.

The dirty little secret of office technology is that no one can agree on how exactly to measure white-
collar productivity. That means, in turn, that no one can prove definitively that PCs and other
technologies contribute anything to productivity.

What the experts have figured out is how to track what office workers actuallyspend their time
doing. The results indicate that -- contrary to any assumptions about their usefulness -- personal
computers, smartphones, notebooks, netbooks and associated gadgets can be such massively
beguiling, addictive time sinks that they materially damage the economy -- draining it by one-
sixteenth, according to one calculation.

There was a time when "interruption" meant an unexpected phone call or visitor. Mail was delivered
only once daily. Now office workers are continually barraged with e-mail, instant messages, texts,
BlackBerry traffic, blog updates, news feeds, Tweets, Web sites with enticing links and calendar
reminders -- and the phone still rings, people still drop by and paper mail is still delivered.

Simply dealing with the deluge gives people the illusion of productivity. But statistics indicate that
might be all it is -- an illusion.

No one is advocating flipping the switch back to precomputer days. What they are saying is that the
computer's potential for undermining productivity should be understood -- and countered.

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Simply dealing with the deluge gives us the illusion of productivity. But statistics indicate that might
be all it is -- an illusion.

There are easy ways to do that, efficiency experts say -- sometimes by turning off seemingly
innocent features that serve mostly to distract us, sometimes by using overlooked features that
eliminate time-wasting tasks, and sometimes by simply steeling our resolve against the siren song of
endless digital distraction.

From factory floor to office door

Computers were introduced wholesale into offices in the 1980s to boost white-collar productivity
through what was then called office automation. The effort was inspired by previously successful
projects to boost blue-collar productivity through factory automation. Experts tried to gauge the
impact of the computers, treating the office as if it were a factory of paper-pushers.

It didn't work, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

"The problem is not on the input side, since there are a lot of ways of measuring the cost of white-
collar activities," explains Clinton Longenecker, business professor at the University of Toledo in
Ohio. "The problem is measuring the deliverables, since there are no effective metrics of output.
They are still debating how to measure white-collar productivity."

In other words, if an office produces invoices and periodic financial reports for an enterprise, how
much are those worth? After all, they have no market value. You can calculate how much it cost to
produce them, but that's no help if you don't know their value. Do they contribute to the success of
the enterprise? If so, exactly how much do they contribute?

"We are borrowing management science from the industrial age and using it in the knowledge
economy," says Jonathan Spira, chief analyst at Basex Inc., a New York research firm. "Most of the
time, it is the same as putting a square peg in a round hole."

It took 150 years for the industrial age to produce an adequate management science, he notes, and
the knowledge economy is only a couple of decades old. Spira doesn't think it will take 150 years for
a management science for knowledge work to arise, but he admits that he has no clue as to what it
might look like.

Meanwhile, having been waylaid in their quest to value output, modern efficiency experts instead
spend their time examining what office workersspend their time actually doing -- and assume that
the output, whatever it is, amounts to productivity. But what they find is not always pretty.

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The multitasking illusion

In particular, efficiency experts are alarmed by the effects of computer-enabled multitasking on

office work and office workers. "I used to say that multitasking made a task take 15% longer. Now I
say 50%," says Bary Sherman, head ofPEP Productivity Solutions Inc., a Fallbrook, Calif.-based
management consultancy that specializes in helping organizations become more efficient.

"Multitasking, as a term applied to people, did not exist before MicrosoftWindows," points out Dave
Crenshaw, a Saratoga Springs, Utah-based executive coach. But now, he says, "we use the term
thinking we can multitask like computers."

The problem is that human multitasking involves interrupting one task with another. "We found in
our research that something very interesting happens when I interrupt you," says Basex's Spira.
"First there is the interruption itself, and then there is what we call the recovery time, which is the
time it takes you to get back to where you were."

"We found that the recovery time is 10 to 20 times the length of the interruption," Spira continues.
"The phone call that interrupted you may have lasted 30 seconds, but getting back to where you
were may take five minutes."

By Spira's calculations, about 28% of an office worker's time is lost to interruptions and recovery
time. Taking into account the size of the U.S. knowledge worker workforce (more than 65 million)
and the average knowledge worker's salary (more than $21 per hour) and other data that's
proprietary, he figures interruptions cost the U.S. about $900 billion per year, out of a gross
domestic product of approximately $14.5 trillion.

In other words, interruptions stunt the economy by about one-sixteenth.

How workers spend their time

Experts may not agree on what constitutes white-collar productivity, but they do agree that the
majority of office workers' time is spent on distractions.

You did what all week?

Handling e-mail 7.3 hours

Handling paper mail 1.0 hours

Attending "ineffective" meetings 2.2 hours

Working overtime 4.4 hours

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 Handling e-mail 7.3 hours

Delegating work 3.0 hours

Being interrupted 3.8 hours

Looking for information 1.3 hours

Working on backlogs 2.2 hours

Planning work 2.1 hours

Source: PEP Productivity Solutions Inc.,

Fallbrook, Calif.

PEP Productivity Solutions is one research firm that conducts periodic surveys on the subject of how
office workers spend their days. Its latest survey, from May of 2008, found that they spend multiple
hours per week per person on non-essential tasks, including meetings they deemed "inefficient."

PEP's most recent total of 27.3 hours per person per week devoted to non-essential tasks is actually
down by nearly one-third from a 2006 survey's total of 34.9 hours, leading the firm to speculate that
U.S. office workers are getting a better handle on their technology.

Tim Stansfield, president of IET Inc., a consulting firm in Toledo, Ohio, estimates that 50% of the
tasks office workers spend their time on are unrelated to their job descriptions. Much of it is just
disruption and interference, and is often a product of the environment of their specific organization.

A common goal among his clients, says Stansfield, is to raise their productive time from 50% to 75%,
often by reining in meetings.

Faceless face time

Perhaps as a result, "people constantly do work while talking, talking to people in their presence
while also talking on the phone, or working on the computer while talking on the phone," Crenshaw
says.

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Taming the e-mail beast

E-mail is by some accounts the single most potent interruption generator.

Experts agreed on one way to counter that problem: turn off the notification feature and check mail
only at intervals. "Anyone can do that, and it will save you hours in a week," notes Dave Crenshaw, a
Saratoga Springs, Utah-based executive coach.

Bary Sherman, head of PEP Productivity Solutions, urges users to learn the "rules" feature in
Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes, which can categorize incoming e-mail according to its contents
and send it to the desired subfolder. "That can clear half your in-box," he says.

Beyond that, with so much business being conducted by e-mail, for a lot of users their in-box
constitutes their office archive. Office workers spend significant amounts of time looking for
documents, which these days mostly reside in their in-boxes.

Various search tools can be used to probe an in-box's contents, but Sherman dismisses them as
inadequate, since they can generate an unworkable number of hits. Instead, he says, users should
create a system of e-mail folders and subfolders to classify and store their e-mail, using a naming
convention that matches their thought processes and work methods.

"What would you think about if you had to find it six months from now?" Sherman asks. "Naming
should reflect how you think, and the better job you do now, the easier it will be to find something
later."

"Too often we find people with thousands of e-mails in their in-boxes, because they think it's a good
place or they don't know how to create an effective folder system," he adds. "They think they can
rely on their sorting system, but they can't, and end up spending hours weekly looking for things.

"If there's no scroll bar at the end of the day in your in-box, you're in good shape; otherwise you
need subfolders," Sherman says.

"I have come across many employees who feel neglected by their managers, since the boss won't
fully pay attention to them, or when they do get to talk to the boss they cling as tightly as they can
since they don't know when the next opportunity will come."

While Hallowell acknowledges that multitasking is a great way to make boring tasks like data entry
seem more tolerable, he counsels employees to reserve time in their business day to interact with
colleagues face to face and to map out uninterrupted time for concentrating on important tasks one
at a time.

"If you make better use of your attention, it is a gift you give yourself," he says. You'll get your work
done, and as a bonus, he says, "you will feel more energetic, refreshed and alert."

Fewer tools, more rules

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Most experts agree it's not the electronics, but the ways people use them, that cause productivity
problems.

"A lot of corporations give people tools and don't teach them how to use them," says PEP's
Sherman. "If they are demanding more work, they are obligated to show [employees] how to use
their tools more effectively," he continues. "People are stealing time from themselves by not using
tools that are available."

One big case in point? E-mail, which most employees now regard as essential to their business lives.
"E-mail has gone from promise to plague," Sherman says. "It is a lousy collaborative tool, since
conversing by e-mail takes 10 times longer than by phone."

To regain control, he suggests that IT should show office workers how to turn off new-mail
notifications and set their preferences to check for mail at set intervals only.

Biggest time-wasters
Aside from e-mail, the worst distractions are IM, voice mail, smartphones and, of course, the World
Wide Web itself.

"The most abused form of communications is instant messaging," Sherman says. "No one gives
people rules for using it. They'll send messages asking if you got their e-mail." As an antidote,
Sherman suggests that users master the "presence" notification settings of their IM system so that
their correspondents can see whether they are willing to receive instant messages.

As for voice mail, users need to manage expectations by being specific about response times,
Crenshaw notes. "If your recording says you will get back 'as soon as possible,' that may mean a day
to you, but five minutes to someone else, and they will start interrupting you more and more. You
should choose a time interval and stick to it."

Meanwhile, efficiency experts agree that the use of BlackBerries and other PDAs in meetings is bad
form -- one even suggests that participants be required to park them in hanging shoe holders at the
door.

Hallowell tells the story of a lawyer who was able to negotiate a surprisingly good deal for his client
during a meeting with opposing lawyers. Later, when he was asked how he managed it, he said, "I
was the only one at the meeting not working on a BlackBerry."

Finally, of course, there is the Web and its endless chain of time-sucking links. To keep themselves
on track at work, Crenshaw encourages workers to use personal whitelists and blacklists of Web
sites, just as corporate security systems do. If users are reminded that they're linking to an off-topic
site during business hours, they can perhaps short-circuit another lapse into an open-ended series of
task switches. (Crenshaw himself uses the LeechBlock add-on for Firefox to control his surfing
impulses.)

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The upside of the PC revolution
Of course, there is a corresponding upside to this productivity downside. The ultimate usefulness of
personal computers to the business world is undeniable -- especially when compared to previous
paper-based methods.

"At one point, in order to achieve a workgroup consensus, you had to pass around a draft document
for everyone to mark up until everyone agreed," points out Michael Liebhold, senior researcher at
the Institute for the Future, a think tank in Palo Alto, Calif. "These days, you can do that very quickly
with digital documents."

White-collar employees with a digital library at their fingertips find it's easier to do research and to
do more of it themselves, he adds. Moreover, "the workforce is more agile due to the ability to stay
in contact pervasively, regardless of location," he notes.

At the corporate level, the cost of financial management as a percentage of revenue has been
dropping for more than 15 years, thanks to computerization, says Honorio Padron, a consultant in
the Atlanta office of The Hackett Group Inc., a strategic consulting firm.

"With technology, [companies] are able to improve tremendously the way they forecast; they are
able to cut inventory levels, maximize their cash flows and meet customer demands in a more
satisfactory way," Padron says. And those improvements are all enabled by employees with
computers.

In this recession Padron notes, many enterprises have cut back on various departments while
demanding the same output. They often ask IT to make up the difference by applying automation.
And that puts more pressure than ever on IT to give rank-and-file employees the tools and training
they need to ensure that they use their computers productively, and don't simply sit in front of
them, entranced.

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Learning Outcome # 2: APPLY RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheet # 2

Information Technology
We use the term information technology or IT to refer to an entire industry. In actuality, information
technology is the use of computers and software to manage information. In some companies, this is
referred to as Management Information Services (or MIS) or simply as Information Services (or IS).
The information technology department of a large company would be responsible for storing
information, protecting information, processing the information, transmitting the information as
necessary, and later retrieving information as necessary.

History of Information Technology

In relative terms, it wasn't long ago that the Information Technology department might have
consisted of a single Computer Operator, who might be storing data on magnetic tape, and then
putting it in a box down in the basement somewhere. The history of information technology is
fascinating! Check out these history of information technology resources for information on
everything from the history of IT to electronics inventions and even the top 10 IT bugs.

Modern Information Technology Departments:

In order to perform the complex functions required of information technology departments today,
the modern Information Technology Department would use computers, servers,database
management systems, andcryptography. The department would be made up of several System
Administrators, Database Administrators and at least one Information Technology Manager. The
group usually reports to the Chief Information Officer (CIO).

Some of the most popular information technology skills at the moment are:
 Computer Networking
 Information Security
 IT Governance
 ITIL
 Business Intelligence
 Linux
 Unix
 Project Management

Information Technology Certifications:

Having a solid education and specific specialty certifications is the best way to progress in an
information technology career. Here are some of the more popular information technology
certifications:
Information Security Certifications
 Oracle DBA Certifications
 Microsoft Certifications
 Cisco Certifications
 PMP Certification

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Jobs in IT:
There can be a lot of overlap between many of the job descriptions within information technology
departments. In order to clarify the descriptions, skills and career paths of each, I have put together
a Jobs in IT listing. The jobs in IT listing includes information on education and training required for
each position. It also includes lists of companies that typically have IT jobs open, as well as links to IT-
specific resumes, cover letters and IT interview questions.

Information Technology - Trends:

Information Technology Departments will be increasingly concerned with data storage and
management, and will find that information security will continue to be at the top of the priority
list. Cloud computing remains a growing area to watch. The job outlook for those within Information
Technology is strong, with data security and server gurus amongst the highest paid techies. Check
out the Information Security Certifications and Highest Paying Certifications for more information. In
order to stay current in the Information Technology Industry, be sure you subscribe to
top technology industry publications.

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Learning Outcome # 2: APPLY RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheet # 3

What Is 5S?

5S is a set of techniques providing a standard approach to housekeeping within Lean .

It is often promoted as being far more than simply housekeeping and some of the elements
described below certainly have broader implications.

It originated, as did most of the elements of JIT, within Toyota.

A cornerstone of 5S is that untidy, cluttered work areas are not productive.
As well as the physical implications of junk getting in everybody's way and dirt compromising quality,
we are all are happier in a clean and tidy environment and hence more inclined to work hard and
with due care and attention.

Naturally enough, the elements of 5S are all Japanese words beginning with the letter S. Since their
adoption within Western implementations of JIT, or Lean , various anglicised versions of the terms
have been adopted by different writers and educators. These are listed below against the individual
elements and it can be seen that none are entirely satisfactory.

The individual items within 5S are known as the "pillars" and are:

1. Seiri (Sort)

Seiri is the identification of the most successful physical Organisation of the workplace.
It has been variously anglicised as Sort, Systematisation or Simplify by those wishing to
retain the S as the initial letter of each element.

It is the series of steps by which we identify things which are being held in the workplace
when they shouldn't, or are being held in the wrong place.

Put simply, we may identify a large area devoted to tools or gauges, some of which are
needed regularly and some used infrequently. This brings all sorts of problems, including:

o Operators unable to find the item they need, being unable to see wood for trees.
The time spent searching is a waste (or in Japanese speak a muda) and if we only
held the items needed regularly in a prominent position we would save time.
o Quality issues when gauges are not calibrated on time because too many are held.
o Safety issues when people fall over things.
o Lockers and racking cluttering the workplace making it hard to move around or to
see each other and communicate.

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 Some of the standard texts also talk about the elimination of excess materials and WIP.
This is a complete restatement of all the JIT goals of releasing capital, reduced movement,
shorter cycle times and so on. The question may be asked: should we then see inventory and
WIP reduction as part of the implementation of the lean approach or as an element of 5S?
The answer, as ever, is that keeping inventory and WIP to a minimum is simple good
practice. Whether we view it as JIT, or lean, or 5S or assign any other term is quite frankly
irrelevant.

The major element of Seiri is simply a critical look at the area. Involving cross-functional
teams, or looking at each other's areas, is an obvious first step. People tend to be blind to
failings in their own work place and a fresh pair of eyes can be useful.

Another element of the standard approach is 'red tagging' where items are given a tag which
says what the item is, which location it is in and when it was identified in this location. We
then leave the area for a while and anybody using the item notes this. We go back some
time later and can readily identify things that haven't moved, or been used.
Items which have not been used can then potentially be disposed of. As a first pass we
should perhaps create a quarantine area before throwing items away, selling them or
reworking them into something else. Other items may be deemed necessary but used
infrequently and so an alternative location can be found. If the operator needs a particular
tool only once or twice a month then a 20-yard walk is not a problem - especially if the space
thus saved on the workbench helps to make the workplace more productive, or helps
address quality issues.

2. Seiton (Set)

Seiton is the series of steps by which the optimum organisation identified in the first pillar
are put into place.

The standard translation is Orderliness but again some wish to keep the initial S and use Sort
(yes, that is also one of the translations of Seiri), Set in order, Straighten and
Standardisation.

The sorting out process is essentially a continuation of that described in the Seiri phase.
Removing items to be discarded or held in an alternative location will create space. This
space will be visible and facilitate the alternative layout of the area.

In some cases, of course, we are talking about what a fitter will have on his bench, or in
racks alongside the bench. In other cases we may be considering where we should locate a
piece of plant - for example we may relocate a coin press to enable items to be completed in
one work area rather than requiring a significant movement down the shop.

This is something which we also undertake when adopting cellular manufacturing. We then
look at how we can restructure the work content so that certain operations can be carried
out within the cycle of others - for example we may carry out a trimming operation on a
steel component while the press which produced it is busy creating the next one. Again, is
this a 5S initiative, or part of a kaizen programme, or something else? Again, who cares, as
long as we get on and achieve an improvement in business performance?

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 Standardisation includes all the elements of setting out a consistent way of doing things. This
includes standard manufacturing methodologies, standard equipment and tooling,
component rationalisation, drawing standardisation, consistency in the documentation
which accompanies work, design for manufacture (or concurrent engineering) and
standardisation in the clerical processes which deliver work to the shop floor and track its
progress.

All of this could be said to be part of a basic Total Quality approach. The standard ways of
doing things should include poka-yoke or error-proofing. Again it might be asked whether
this is part of 5S or one aspect of a broader programme.

3. Seiso (Shine)

Anglicised as Cleanliness but again the initial S can be retained in Shine, or Sweeping.

The principle here is that we are all happier and hence more productive in clean, bright
environments. There is a more practical element in that if everything is clean it is
immediately ready for use.

We would not want a precision product to be adjusted by a spanner that is covered in grease
which may get into some pneumatic or hydraulic fittings. We would not wish to compromise
a PCB assembly by metallic dust picked up from an unclean work surface. Other issues are
health and safety (perhaps slipping in a puddle of oil, shavings blowing into people's eyes)
and machine tools damaged by coolant contaminated by grease and dust.

The task is to establish the maintenance of a clean environment as an ongoing, continuous

programme.
Some time should be set aside for cleaning each day, or each shift. (We may have cleaners
who come in a sweep office floors, and even clean the floor in a production area, but they
do not clean the production equipment. Even if they did, this would miss one of the
opportunities available - an operator cleaning and lubricating his machine tool will spot worn
or damaged components.)

Cleaning then begins to impinge upon what we already know as preventive maintenance.
Cleaning critical components of a piece of equipment is already one element of the activities
carried out under the PM banner.

The implementation of Seiso revolves around two main elements.

The first is the assignment map which identifies who is responsible for which areas.
The second is the schedule which says who does what at which times and on which days.
Some of these happen before a shift begins, some during the shift and some at the end.
Again, this is very reminiscent of what we do when adopting PM.

The standard texts such as that of Hiroyuki Hirano then go on to talk about establishing the
shine method for each item / area. This includes such elements as agreeing an inspection
step at the beginning of each shift, establishing exactly how each activity within the
programme is to be carried out. A key aspect is very much akin to set-up reduction (or
SMED) in that we should be aiming as much as possible to internalise the activities - in other
words, to minimise the downtime needed to keep the facilities clean.

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 Finally the standard texts talk about preparation - making sure the equipment needed to
clean is always available, always ready for use. The excellent parallel to this is, again, with
set-up reduction, which itself is often compared to Grand Prix teams preparing to change
tyres. As with many such topics, we are talking about here is to a large extent simply
common sense. We do not wish to allocate 5 minutes for a bed to be swept on a piece of
grinding equipment if the operator is going to spend 4 minutes finding his brush.

4. Seiketsu (Standardisation)

This is well described as Standardised cleanup, but other names adopted include
Standardisation (not to be confused with the second pillar), Systematisation and Sanitation.

Seiketsu can be the thought of as the means by which we maintain the first three pillars.
There is, obviously, a danger in any improvement activity that once the focus is removed and
another 'hot button' grabs management attention, things go back to the way they were
before. Seiketsu is the set of techniques adopted to prevent this happening. Basically this
involves setting a schedule by which all the elements are revisited on a regular basis - usually
referred to as the '5S Job Cycle.'

The first step in the cycle is a periodic review of the area, perhaps involving red tagging but
certainly involving people from other areas of the business.
This will identify where standards have slipped - for example where pieces of tooling or
fixtures which are used infrequently are no longer being put in the remote location agreed
at the outset and consequently a bench is now cluttered with the regular items buried under
a pile of irregular. (In other words, the Seiri phase is undertaken periodically - usually
monthly, perhaps quarterly.)

The second step is to undertake Seiton activities as required - that is, as prompted by the
first step.

Finally within Seiketsu people from other areas visit and cast a critical eye over the state of
the area.
Again, an external assessor may notice degradation that is not clear to the people who work
in the area. Hirano talks of a checklist within Seiketsu whereby the external visitors mark the
area on a number of key criteria defined at the outset of the programme. For example, are
the storage areas still clearly defined? Does the tool rack still have clear outlines or profiles
for each tool to be stored in it? Does the area meet the general standards of cleanliness?

5. Shitsuke (Sustain)

The final stage is that of Discipline. For those who wish to retain the use of initial S's in
English this is often listed as Sustain or Self-discipline.

There is a fundamental difference between Seiketsu and Shitsuke.

The fourth pillar is the introduction of a formal, rigorous review programme to ensure that
the benefits of the approach are maintained.
The fifth pillar is more than this; it is not simply the mechanical means by which we continue
to monitor and refine, it is the set of approaches we use to win hearts and minds, to make
people want to keep applying good practice in shop organisation and housekeeping. In this

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 sense, discipline is perhaps an unfortunate term as it implies people forced to do something,
with consequent penalties if they do not.

The way in which management achieves this establishment of ongoing commitment within
the workforce depends, of course, on the culture already in place. As with the adoption of
kaizen (continuous improvement) or quality circles we have to press the right buttons to
stimulate people. If the business has a history of treating people like cattle, giving no
credence to their suggestions and simply trying to improve performance by driving the
workers ever harder, then enthusiasm for any sort of initiative aimed at building a better
environment is going to be hard to generate.

There are a number of elements to any ongoing improvement activity in any business. Which
take pre-eminence in a particular organisation varies with the history and culture of that
organisation. Suffice to say that key points are:

o Communication. We need people to be aware of what we are trying to achieve, and

why.
o Education. They need to understand the concepts and the individual techniques.
o Rewards and Recognition. People need to feel that their efforts are recognised.
Whether the reward is a senior manager walking past and saying "that's very good,
well done" or some form of award (financial gain, prize or formal presentation of a
certificate) depends on the organisation.
o Time. If we want people to spend five minutes every four hours removing swarf
from the floor around their machine we have to make sure that we allow them this
time. We cannot give this as an instruction yet at the same time push for more time
spent achieving productivity targets.
o Structure. We need to identify what is to be done, by whom, and ensure that
schedules are updated and clearly visible.

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 CLASS ACTIVITY

Learning Outcome # 2: APPLY RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheets 1 – 3

Test I: Identification (2points each)

Direction: Supply the missing word or phrase to complete the statement.

1. the final stage of Discipline.

2. is considered by some accounts the single most potent interruption generator

years it took for the industrial age to produce an adequate management
3. science.
what decade computers were introduced wholesale into offices to boost white-
4. collar productivity through what was then called office automation.

5. can be the thought of as the means by which we maintain the first three pillars.
number of hours spent in a week by an office workers in handling email stated
6. by PEP Productivity Solutions Inc.

7. it originated, as did most of the elements of JIT, within Toyota

the principle here is that we are all happier and hence more productive in
8. clean, bright environments

9. the most abused form of communications.

is the series of steps by which the optimum organisation identified in the first
10. pillar are put into place.

Test II: Enumaration (2points each)

Direction: Supply the correct answer.

1. What are the 5S.

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 ANSWER KEY

Learning Outcome # 1: APPLY RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheets 1 – 3

TEST I

1. Shitsuke (Sustain)
2. E-mail
3. 150 Years
4. 1980
5. Seiketsu
6. 7.3 Hours
7. 5S
8. Seiso
9. Instant Messaging
10. Seiton

TEST II

I. Answer to the question

1. Seiri (Sort)
2. Seiton (Set)
3. Seiso (Shine)
4. Seiketsu (Standardisation)
5. Shitsuke (Sustain)

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Learning Outcome # 3: MAINTAIN / ENHANCE RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Learning Activities Special Instructions

3. Read the following topics.

3.1 Read information Sheet #1
3.2 Read information Sheet #2 Read and Study the given information
3.3 Read information Sheet #3

Class Activity Team Building Activity

Learning Outcome # 3: MAINTAIN / ENHANCE RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheet # 1

Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance is a schedule of planned maintenance actions aimed at the prevention of

breakdowns and failures. The primary goal of preventive maintenance is to prevent the failure of
equipment before it actually occurs. It is designed to preserve and enhance equipment reliability by
replacing worn components before they actually fail. Preventive maintenance activities include
equipment checks, partial or complete overhauls at specified periods, oil changes, lubrication and so
on. In addition, workers can record equipment deterioration so they know to replace or repair worn
parts before they cause system failure. Recent technological advances in tools for inspection and
diagnosis have enabled even more accurate and effective equipment maintenance. The ideal
preventive maintenance program would prevent all equipment failure before it occurs.

Value of Preventive Maintenance

There are multiple misconceptions about preventive maintenance. One such misconception is that
PM is unduly costly. This logic dictates that it would cost more for regularly scheduled downtime and
maintenance than it would normally cost to operate equipment until repair is absolutely necessary.
This may be true for some components; however, one should compare not only the costs but the
long-term benefits and savings associated with preventive maintenance. Without preventive
maintenance, for example, costs for lost production time from unscheduled equipment breakdown
will be incurred. Also, preventive maintenance will result in savings due to an increase of effective
system service life.

Long-term benefits of preventive maintenance include:

 Improved system reliability.

 Decreased cost of replacement.
 Decreased system downtime.
 Better spares inventory management.

Long-term effects and cost comparisons usually favor preventive maintenance over performing
maintenance actions only when the system fails.

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When Does Preventive Maintenance Make Sense

Preventive maintenance is a logical choice if, and only if, the following two conditions are met:

 Condition #1: The component in question has an increasing failure rate. In other words, the
failure rate of the component increases with time, thus implying wear-out. Preventive
maintenance of a component that is assumed to have an exponential distribution (which
implies a constant failure rate) does not make sense!
 Condition #2: The overall cost of the preventive maintenance action must be less than the
overall cost of a corrective action. (Note: In the overall cost for a corrective action, one
should include ancillary tangible and/or intangible costs, such as downtime costs, loss of
production costs, lawsuits over the failure of a safety-critical item, loss of goodwill, etc.)

If both of these conditions are met, then preventive maintenance makes sense. Additionally, based
on the costs ratios, an optimum time for such action can be easily computed for a single component.

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Learning Outcome # 3: MAINTAIN / ENHANCE RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheet # 2

Corrective and preventive action

Corrective and preventive action (CAPA, also called corrective action / preventive action) is a
concept within good manufacturing practice (GMP). CAPA focuses on the systematic investigation of
discrepancies (failures and/or deviations) in an attempt to prevent their recurrence (for corrective
action) or prevent from occurrence (for preventive action). To ensure that corrective and preventive
actions are effective, the systematic investigation of the failure incidence is pivotal in identifying the
corrective and preventive actions undertaken. CAPA is part of the overall quality management
system(QMS).

 Remedial corrections of a problem which is identified.

 Root cause analysis combined with corrective action to help understand the cause of the
deviation and potentially prevent recurrence of a similar problem.

A common misconception is that preventive action is to avert the occurrence of a similar potential
problem. This process is all part of corrective action, because it is a process of determining such
similarities that should take place in the event of a discrepancy.
Preventive action is any proactive methodology used to determine potential discrepancies before
they occur and to ensure that they do not happen (thereby including, for example, preventive
maintenance, management review or other common forms of risk aversion). Corrective and
preventive actions both include investigation, action, review, and further action if so required. It can
be seen that both fit into the PDCA (plan-do-check-act) philosophy as determined by the Deming-
Shewhart cycle. Corrective & preventive action is action which is find out root causes of
defects/deviation & take a freeze action which elminate problem.

Preventive Maintenance (PM) or Corrective Maintenance (CM)?

Experience has clearly shown that some confusion does exist over just what people mean when they
use the term preventive maintenance. One significant factor stems from the evidence that a vast
majority of our industrial plants and facilities have been operating for extended periods, years in
many cases, in a reactive maintenance mode. That is to say that the maintenance resources have
been almost totally committed to responding to unexpected equipment failures. Corrective, not
preventive, maintenance is frequently the operational mode of the day, and this tends to blur what
is preventive and what is corrective.

In one actual extreme case, a plant developed an entire culture that fostered a feeling of pride in
people’s ability to fix things rapidly and under pressure when a forced outage occurred. Plant
personnel viewed their actions as preventive in the sense that they were able to “prevent” a long
outage because of their highly efficient and effective reactive and corrective actions. What the plant
staff did not consciously recognize (or acknowledge) was that they were the highest cost per unit
producer among their peers.

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Learning Outcome # 3: MAINTAIN / ENHANCE RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheet # 3

A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations,

declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or
complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work, segregated in
workshare, work split or other types of ordering. For control purposes, workflow may be a view on
real work under a chosen aspect, thus serving as a virtual representation of actual work. The flow
being described often refers to a document that is being transferred from one step to another.
A workflow is a model to represent real work for further assessment, e.g., for describing a reliably
repeatable sequence of operations. More abstractly, a workflow is a pattern of activity enabled by a
systematic organization of resources, defined roles and mass, energy and information flows, into
a work process that can be documented and learned. Workflows are designed to achieve processing
intents of some sort, such as physical transformation, service provision, or information processing.
Workflow concepts are closely related to other concepts used to describe organizational structure,
such as silos, functions, teams, projects, policies and hierarchies. Workflows may be viewed as one
primitive building block of organizations. The relationships among these concepts are described later
in this entry.

The term workflow is used in computer programming to capture and develop human-to-machine
interaction.

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 CLASS ACTIVITY

Learning Outcome # 3: MAINTAIN / ENHANCE RELEVANT TECHNOLOGY

Information Sheets # 1 – 3

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LEARNER’S DIARY

DIARY NOTES

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