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:

critically review current continuous improvement processes

establish ongoing review of continuous improvement processes

implement improvements in the practice of continuous improvement

better align internal and external systems

gather data through interviews with stakeholders

review existing data

obtain additional data through a variety of techniques

communicate and negotiate at all levels within the organisation

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 for appropriate portions

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 language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.

Required skills

Required skills include:

undertaking self-directed problem solving and decision-making on issues of a broad and/or highly specialised nature and in highly varied and/or highly specialised contexts

communicating at all levels in the organisation and value stream and to audiences of different levels of literacy and numeracy

analysing current state/situation of the organisation and value stream

determining and implementing the most appropriate method for capturing value stream improvements

collecting and interpreting data and qualitative information from a variety of sources

analysing individually and collectively the implementation of competitive systems and practices tools in the organisation and determining strategies for improved implementation

relating implementation and use of competitive systems and practices and continuous improvement to customer benefit

solving highly varied and highly specialised problems related to competitive systems and practices implementation and continuous improvement to root cause

negotiating with stakeholders, where required, to obtain information required for implementation and refinement of continuous improvements, including management, unions, value stream members, employees and members of the community

reviewing relevant metrics, including all those measures which might be used to determine the performance of the improvement system, including:

key performance indicators (KPIs) for existing processes

quality statistics

delivery timing and quantity statistics

process/equipment reliability (‘uptime’)

incident and non-conformance reports

implementing continuous improvement to support systems and areas, including maintenance, office, training and human resources

Required knowledge

Required knowledge includes:

competitivesystems and practicestools, including:

value stream mapping

5S

Just in Time (JIT)

mistake proofing

process mapping

establishing customer pull

kaizen and kaizen blitz

setting of KPIs/metrics

identification and elimination of waste (muda)

continuous improvement processes including implementation, monitoring and evaluation strategies for a whole organisation and its value stream

difference between breakthrough improvement and continuous improvement

organisational goals, processes and structure

approval processes within organisation

cost/benefit analysis methods

methods of determining the impact of a change

advantages and disadvantages of communication media, methods and formats for different messages and audiences

customer perception of value

define, measure, analyse, improve, and control and sustain (DMAIC) process

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

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

Codes of practice/standards

Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, the latest version must be used

Health, safety and environment (HSE)

All changes implemented are expected to be at least neutral, or preferably beneficial, in their impact on HSE

Organisation systems

Organisation systems may include:

problem recognition and solving

operational/process improvement

improvement projects

product/process design and development

processes for making incremental improvements

Relevant metrics

Relevant metrics include all those measures which might be used to determine the performance of the improvement system and may include:

hurdle rates for new investments

KPIs for existing processes

quality statistics

delivery timing and quantity statistics

process/equipment reliability (‘uptime’)

incident and non-conformance reports

complaints, returns and rejects

Improvement process yield

Improvement process yield may be regarded as:

the benefit achieved for the effort invested

Breakthrough improvements

Breakthrough improvements include:

those which result from a kaizen blitz or other improvement project or event and are a subset of all improvements

Timing of breakthrough improvements

Timing of breakthrough improvements includes:

frequency (which should be maximised) and duration (which should be minimised) of events/projects

Continuous improvement

Continuous improvement is part of normal work and does not require a special event to occur (although may still require authorisations) and contrasts with breakthrough improvement/kaizen blitz which occurs by way of an event or project

Resources for improvement

Resources for improvements include:

improvement budget

guidelines for trialling of possible improvements

mechanism for approvals for possible improvements

business case guidelines for proposed improvements

indicators of success of proposed improvement

mechanisms for tracking and evaluation of changes

forum for the open discussion of the results of the implementation

mechanisms for the examination of the improvement for additional improvements

organisation systems to sustain beneficial changes

Capturing value stream improvements

Capturing value stream improvements includes:

revised contractual arrangements

revised specifications

signed agreements

other documented arrangements which formalise the raised base line

Systems impacting improvements

Systems which impact/are impacted on improvements and the improvement system include:

office

purchasing

rewards (individual or team at all levels)

sales

marketing

maintenance

process/product

transport and logistics

Organisational knowledge

Organisational knowledge should:

be able to be quantified or otherwise modified to make its outcomes measurable or observable

be able to be expressed in an accessible and distributable form appropriate to the organisation operations and stakeholders

Improvements

Improvements may:

be to process, plant, procedures or practice

include changes to ensure positive benefits to stakeholders are maintained

Manager

Manager may include:

any person who may have either a permanent or an ad hoc role in facilitating the function of multiple teams in a workplace, departments or entire organisations