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:

identify current and target customer needs and benefits for an area and improvement project

use DMAIC process for an area related improvement project a project

propose test and document improvement solutions

add to or edit organisation documents using standard procedures.

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.

Required skills

Required skills include:

interpreting charts and diagrams

identifying data relevant to improvement project from a variety of sources

analysing data using statistical methods

solving problems to root causes

communicating with other employees to obtain samples/data and to explain processes, results and limits

determining extent of benefits gained from improvement projects

identifying relevant documentation for improvement projects and updating, as required

Required knowledge

Required knowledge includes:

charting methods and formats, such as Pareto charts, fishbone diagrams

statistical principles and techniques

acceptance criteria/confidence levels and other relevant limits and criteria for improvement project

DMAIC methods

six sigma principles

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 the industry sector

DMAIC

DMAIC is a structured improvement process involving the following stages:

define

measure

analyse

improve

control and standardise

Define

Definition of the project to include:

'as is' process map

defining benefits from the project

problem statement

goal statement

project scope

Measurements

Measurements may include:

identification of key measures/attributes

sampling schedule for project

variations and limits

Analyse

Analyse may include:

statistical analysis of data

root cause analysis

use of various problem solving/analysis tools

Improvement

Improvement may include:

generation and testing of improvements

selection of appropriate improvements

Control and standardise

Control and standardise may include:

documenting

transferring ownership of improved process