MSS402002A
Sustain process improvements

This unit of competency covers the skills and knowledge required to prevent process improvements in their own work from slipping back to former practices or digressing to less efficient practices.

Application

This unit applies to organisations implementing competitive systems and practices and continuous improvement. It covers the skills needed to ensure that process improvements are sustained and opportunities taken to suggest further improvements.

Improvement initiatives can be made by any of a number of methods and by teams or individuals. The unit assumes that desired levels of performance or quality are known to employees.

The unit can be applied to all areas of an organisation, including production, maintenance, logistics and office functions.

This unit requires the application of skills associated with problem solving, initiative and enterprise and self-management in order to understand implement and monitor improvement practices. It also requires the ability to identify and address personal skill gaps in order to manage own ability to implement change.


Prerequisites

Not applicable.


Elements and Performance Criteria

1

Examine previous improvements

1.1

Identify impact of previous process improvements to equipment, operations, services or products in own work area

1.2

Identify improvements where objectives have not been met

2

Implement corrective actions

2.1

Identify corrective actions that can be taken by self on process improvements that have not met objectives

2.2

Obtain any required approvals

2.3

Identify any additional, personal skill gaps and seek skill development

2.4

Adopt improved processes

3

Check changes

3.1

Identify claimed improvements

3.2

Identify methods of observing and measuring claimed improvements in own work area

3.3

Check if claimed improvements are occurring and report problems in accordance with procedures

4

Check for further improvements

4.1

Look for areas of possible further improvement

4.2

Discuss further improvements with peers and supervisors

4.3

Take action to implement improvements in accordance with procedures

Required Skills

Required skills

Required skills include:

communicating with others to clarify scope and stage of implementation of competitive systems and practices and contribute suggestions for further improvements in implementation

visualising normal operational procedures in terms of flow and contribution to customer outcomes

planning own tasks to support competitive systems and practices implementation

implementing competitive systems and practices in own work area according to instructions

identifying waste (muda)

monitoring competitive systems and practices performance indicators in own work and work area

Required knowledge

Required knowledge includes:

internal and external customers and the value they derive from own work area operations

suppliers to own work area, their capabilities and contribution to customer benefit

waste (muda)

relevant competitive systems and practices for own job and how to apply and monitor the outcomes

factors impacting on product, operations and waste, particularly those wholly or partially under their control (and how to control them)

Evidence Required

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Overview of assessment

A person being assessed against this unit will be able to demonstrate their willing adoption of new equipment, processes, procedures and practices as well as their expertise at implementing them and making critical reviews of their performance in line with their level of competence and authority.

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

A person who demonstrates competency in this unit must be able to provide evidence of the ability to:

implement and monitor process improvements in own work area against objectives

contribute suggestions for further improvement/s

apply procedures for seeking approvals and reporting non-conformances.

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Assessment of performance must be undertaken in a workplace using or implementing one or more competitive systems and practices.

Access may be required to:

workplace procedures and plans relevant to work area

specifications and documentation relating to planned, currently being implemented, or implemented changes to work processes and procedures relevant to the assessee

documentation and information in relation to production, waste, overheads and hazard control/management

reports from supervisors/managers

case studies and scenarios to assess responses to contingencies.

Method of assessment

A holistic approach should be taken to the assessment.

Competence in this unit may be assessed by using a combination of the following to generate evidence:

demonstration in the workplace

workplace projects

suitable simulation

case studies/scenarios (particularly for assessment of contingencies, improvement scenarios, and so on)

targeted questioning

reports from supervisors, peers and colleagues (third-party reports)

portfolio of evidence.

In all cases it is expected that practical assessment will be combined with targeted questioning to assess underpinning knowledge.

Where applicable, reasonable adjustment must be made to work environments and training situations to accommodate ethnicity, age, gender, demographics and disability.

Guidance information for assessment

Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate and appropriate to the oracy, language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.


Range Statement

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Competitive systems and practices

Competitive systems and practices may include, but are not limited to:

lean operations

agile operations

preventative and predictive maintenance approaches

monitoring and data gathering systems, such as Systems Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)software, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)systems, Materials Resource Planning (MRP) and proprietary systems

statistical process control systems, including six sigma and three sigma

Just in Time (JIT), kanban and other pull-related operations control systems

supply, value, and demand chain monitoring and analysis

5S

continuous improvement (kaizen)

breakthrough improvement (kaizen blitz)

cause/effect diagrams

overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)

takt time

process mapping

problem solving

run charts

standard procedures

current reality tree

Competitive systems and practices should be interpreted so as to take into account:

the stage of implementation of competitive systems and practices

the size of the enterprise

the work organisation, culture, regulatory environment and industry sector

Customers

Customers may be:

internal or external customers and should be sufficiently close to the individual’s work as to be easily identifiable

final customers used as the basis for the identification of value and waste

The individual does not need to interface directly with the external customer, but should be provided with sufficient information to enable them to identify customer benefits and customer features

Suppliers

Suppliers may be:

internal or external suppliers and should be sufficiently close to the individual’s work as to be easily identifiable

The operator does not need to interface directly with external suppliers, but should be provided with sufficient information to enable them to identify supplier contribution to their own work and to customer benefit

Measuring improvements

Measuring improvements may include:

personally taking measurements

arranging for measurements to be taken/made by appropriate personnel

Procedures

Procedures may include:

work instructions

standard operating procedures

formulas/recipe

batch sheets

temporary instructions and similar instructions provided for the smooth running of the plant

good operating practice as may be defined by industry codes of practice (e.g. good manufacturing practice (GMP) and responsible care) and government regulations

Procedures may be:

written, verbal, computer-based or in some other format

Improvements

Improvements include:

techniques for preventing mistakes by designing the operations process, equipment and tools so that an operation literally cannot be performed incorrectly (e.g. baka-yoke)

techniques that generate warning signals were a mistake is about to be performed (poka-yoke)


Sectors

Unit sector

Competitive systems and practices


Employability Skills

This unit contains employability skills.


Licensing Information

Not applicable.