Process Lean Thinking Assignment
Individual Assignment Weighting = 100% Assessment breakdown: 30% Literature Review 70% Improvement plan (All one report)
Main Objectives.
(1) Undertake a critical literature review of Lean/Lean-SixSigma concepts and tools and their importance to process improvement. Tools may include, but are not limited to; Kaizen, JIT, SMED, VSM, FMEA, waste reduction and quality at source (JIDOKA etc..). You may pick two or three tools to review. you may also evaluate Lean Management cultural supports (top management support, etc.)
(2) Incorporating several of the lean concepts and tools outlined in the review, develop a Lean improvement plan relating to a process (or processes) of your choice. This can be a process within a real-world organisation (where you work), derived from literature/online literature (e.g. Toyota) or entirely fictional. The plan can be related to a process within manufacturing, service or supply chain settings. (Support your plan and recommendations with literature and real-world examples were necessary and consider the projected performance outcomes). The review and plan should be integrated in one essay. See Page 2 for a potential outline of the report.
Report overview.
As a Lean Management and Six Sigma consultant you are tasked to devise a Lean improvement plan for a process of your choice. You will therefore be required to undertake a literature review and critically evaluate Lean improvement concepts and tools as well as assess some of the key aspects of Lean Culture (i.e. top management support, supplier relationships, employee buy-in etc.) which are important to the success of the Lean improvement plan. In the review, its recommended you outline some of the pitfalls or challenges of the lean tools and concepts which you select. For the second aspect of the assignment, you will apply some of the concepts outlined in the review to a process with which you are familiar with (or can become familiar with) and develop a Lean improvement plan. You should therefore undertake an initial assessment/analysis of the process in question (incl. process mapping, VSM etc.) and then put forward your improvement plan and recommendations. You can also cite examples from other organisations or the literature to help support your Lean improvement plan. Finally, you should also consider the performance implications of the plan and make clear and coherent recommendations for management. Diagrams are also expected in the appendix after the reference list.
Report to be outlined as follows:
Introduction & problem statement ▪
· Setting: Manufacturing or service firm.
· Context: Brief outline of the process (processes) in question. ▪
· Problem statement: A description of the process issue or constraint.
Literature review
· A critical evaluation of the existing literature referencing journal articles relating to Lean Management and Lean-SixSigma concepts and tools (i.e. SMED, JIT, Kaizen, process measurement etc.) and their importance to process improvement (pick 2 or 3 tools).
· A critical evaluation of the important cultural aspects of Lean implementation needed for Lean improvement i.e., top management support, employee buy-in and training, supplier relationships, Hoshin Kanri etc. (pick perhaps 1 support).
Lean Improvement Plan
· Preliminary analysis of the process in question through process flow mapping and value stream mapping – what are the steps in the process? where can waste be reduced, quality increased? etc.. You may use the appendix here.
· Detail an in-depth improvement plan incorporating lean tools (including Lean-Six Sigma) outlined in the review.
· Consider the type of cultural or contextual supports that would be required to facilitate this lean improvement exercise i.e. employee training in Lean.
· Briefly comment on projected performance outcomes (cost, quality etc..) of the Lean improvement plan and how can performance be measured moving forward.
Recommendations
· Summary of the plan for management and how the process can potentially be enhanced by the Lean Improvement plan (bullet points can be used here).
· Consider in your recommendations, the challenges which could hinder the Lean Improvement project.
Conclusions
· Briefly outline limitations of the study and areas for future investigation.
· Draw conclusions of the report.
Referencing style:
In your report you must engage with literature as appropriate and reference articles using the Harvard method of citation.
Word count: 2500 (Max. 3000).
References: At least 15 references in the literature review (nine articles and three books).
Structure: Headings, paragraphs, general good written flow of the report. As a suggestion for the breakdown of the plan, maybe 800 words for the review, 1700 words for the plan.