This unit applies to team leaders and others who are providing guidance and support to assist a team of employees to identify improvements that can be implemented to operations, processes or products in a brief intensive project.
The unit also covers ensuring that the improvements are sustained. The process of achieving breakthrough improvements is often called kaizen blitz in lean terminology.
This unit assumes that one or more processes and operations have been mapped. MSS403033A Map an operational process may also need to be selected if this is not the case.
For facilitation of breakthrough improvements in an office see unit MSS403043A Facilitate breakthrough improvements in an office.
Not applicable.
1 | Prepare for improvement event | 1.1 | Engage team members in the improvement event |
1.2 | Identify process or processes to be targeted in the improvement event | ||
1.3 | Assist team members to identify how their own roles contribute to value to the customer | ||
1.4 | Assist team to identify the boundaries of the event, including any imposed exclusions | ||
1.5 | Identify key process indicators and other information required for improvement event | ||
1.6 | Identify skill needs for personnel engaged in breakthrough improvement event and arrange for any required training | ||
1.7 | Establish communication processes with sponsor and stakeholders |
2 | Identify improvements | 2.1 | Assist team to review current processes, operations or products and identify options for radical improvements |
2.2 | Facilitate team activities and other relevant personnel to evaluate the options and agree on improvements to be made | ||
2.3 | Encourage and assist team and others to plan the activities and identify metrics to be monitored | ||
2.4 | Facilitate allocation of resources and strategies to manage impact on routine work |
3 | Facilitate the event | 3.1 | Assist team to gather baseline data on the selected metrics |
3.2 | Assist team to identify and address barriers to making the improvements | ||
3.3 | Monitor team dynamics and facilitate team focus and cooperation | ||
3.4 | Liaise with sponsor to communicate progress and maintain their support |
4 | Evaluate improvements | 4.1 | Assist team to gather and interpret data on the metrics |
4.2 | Facilitate team activities to evaluate the outcomes of the event | ||
4.3 | Identify causes for areas of poor performance from changes and identify any additional changes to address them | ||
4.4 | Report to sponsor and other stakeholders on the outcomes of the event |
5 | Embed improvements | 5.1 | Establish mechanisms to ensure new systems and/or practices are communicated to relevant personnel |
5.2 | Motivate team to apply the new systems and/or practices and sustain improvements | ||
5.3 | Ensure the new systems and/or practices are reflected in relevant procedures |
Required skills |
Required skills include: facilitating groups of people who may not normally work together analysing information and data to identify variation and evaluate improvements measuring and calculating performance variables facilitating team goals, activities, communications and accessing resources planning and prioritising team activities solving problems to root cause identifying waste (muda) communicating with personnel at all levels in relation to team activities and improvement projects visualising normal operations and procedures in terms of flow and contribution to customer value contributing to procedure review and/or development identifying gaps in skills and/or knowledge and options to address them |
Required knowledge |
Required knowledge includes: team and organisation deliverables and processes used to achieve them how organisation operations and processes contribute to the value stream types of waste (muda) and imposed exclusions organisational policies, plans and procedures methods of identifying and evaluating options occupational health and safety (OHS) requirements relevant to the target work areas |
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. | |
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: interpret operations, processes and products in terms of value to the customer identify, analyse and evaluate information from a variety of sources to identify opportunities for breakthrough improvements lead and motivate others in planning, implementing and sustaining improvements. |
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. |
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 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 the industry sector |
Team | Team for the purposes of this unit means any group of employees engaged in a breakthrough improvement event. Examples include: a permanent formally identified team a sub-group of a team a specially established group for the breakthrough event (e.g. a combined production/administration/ logistics group convened for a breakthrough event addressing delivery issues) |
Scope and benefit statements | Scope and benefit statements of improvement project may include: description of the business the target work process what key stakeholders seek from the improvement project a mission for the event a set of goals a statement of the do's and don'ts for the improvement project |
Boundaries | Boundaries define the extent and limits of the breakthrough improvement event. Typically they define: the start and end point of the process being targeted the steps of the process to be included and excluded specific job roles or related processes to be included or excluded timeframe for the event |
Sponsor | Sponsor includes: a person who is committed to achieving improvements and who has the authority to approve and allocate resources to support the activities and ensuing changes. Typically the sponsor will be a middle or senior manager in the organisation or the business owner |
Breakthrough improvement | A breakthrough improvement (also known as kaizen blitz) is one that delivers a better ratio of value-add to non-value add from the customer perspective. It is characterised by: using a formal process being a discrete targeted activity that is achieved in a relatively short timeframe delivering significant level of improvement |
Mechanisms | Mechanisms to communicate and sustain improvements may include: scheduled audits regular monitoring and/or reporting activities use of visual aids, such as targets and progress boards, process charts and procedure posters communications, such as standing items for team meetings, email reminders or updates |
Imposed exclusions | Imposed exclusions are wastes (muda) that are required but do not add value. They should be formally identified as muda in the competitive systems implmentation. Examples include: equipment excluded from efficiency or layout review because of budget constraints regulatory requirements that do not add value organisation requirements, policies or procedures beyond the influence of the team |
Key process indicators | Key process indicators may include: statistical process control data/charts orders lost time, injury and other OHS records equipment reliability charts |
Team | Team includes: formally designated teams informal groups of employees other stakeholders who may be brought together for a breakthrough improvement event |
Unit sector | Competitive systems and practices |
This unit contains employability skills.
Not applicable.