Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
Assessment
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You must use this file to complete your assessment.
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The first thing you need to do is save a copy of this document, in a suitable location
on your computer, then complete each part of the assessment after you complete the
corresponding session of the course, remembering to save your work regularly.
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You should refer to the answers you gave in the ‘time to think’ questions which will
assist you in answering the questions in the assessment. Try to answer the questions
in the format requested i.e. describe, explain, identify/list, see the guidance below
for this.
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Describe- When you are asked to describe, you must give a description i.e. write a
detailed account like a story (not a list). Free flowing sentences, at least one
paragraph of text.
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Explain-If you are asked to explain, then you must give your answer and your
reasons. As with a description please make it as detailed as possible, free flowing
sentences and at least. one paragraph of text.
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Identify/list - This can be a list, like a shopping list (can be numbers/bullet points).
• When you have fully completed all three parts of the assessment go to
www.vision2learn.com and send your completed assessment to your tutor via your My
Study area – make sure it is clearly marked with your name, the course title and the unit and
assessment number.
Please note that this assessment document has 10 pages and is made up of 3
Sections.
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Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
Name: David Collins
Section 1: A lean environment [LO1]
This section will help you to evidence Learning Outcome 1: Understand the concept of a
lean environment.
Learning objective
Place in assessment
1.1 Describe the principles of lean organisation techniques
Question 1 Page 1, 2
1.2 Explain the benefits of a lean environment
Question 2 Page 2
1. What are the principles of lean organisation techniques? Name and describe the 5
main principles below. [1.1]
Principle 1:
Identify Value
The value of a product or service needs to be accurately assessed. Businesses need
to understand what the customer wants, what benefits the customer will gain and
what the customer would be willing to pay for these benefits. Identifying the Value will
also identify the wastes which when removed or minimized will add value.
Principle 2:
Map the processes
Every process and every step involved in getting to the end product is part of the
process chain. By mapping the flow of activities, managers can easily identify waste
and inefficiencies with the process, allowing them to reduce or eliminate these.
Principle 3:
Make processes flow
By mapping the value stream, managers can spot waste. Any tasks that are done too
early, too late or too often creates waste. By analysing the map and removing waste,
managers can create the optimal flow of activities.
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Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
Principle 4:
Respond to customer demand
Create a system based on actual demand for a product, instead of relying on
forecasts. For flow to operate smoothly, things should not be manufactured ahead of
time because, if unused, creates waste.
Principle 5:
Continually improve
Revisit any part of the business process that has opportunities for further
improvement as this will result in continual efficiency increases, with productivity
consistently improving thus improving customer satisfaction.
2. Explain the benefits of a lean environment. [1.2]
Use your own experience (either of your workplace or an organisation that you know well) to
help you evidence your answer. Alternatively, you can base your answer on the case study
provided. [1.2]
Foods R Us is a local supermarket in AnyTown. It tries to operate to the principles of a lean
environment. Read the case study and explain the benefits of the lean environment in which
Foods R Us operates.
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It is a small chain.
It is not a 24-hour supermarket. It operates between the hours of 9am and 9pm.
It has free parking.
It sources its fruit and vegetables locally from the local fruit and vegetable wholesaler.
The supply chain starts locally.
Its staff are trained to be multi-skilled in a range of different roles. They can operate
anywhere within the store and are poised to deal with the majority of customer queries
themselves. Staff have a varied working day and are paid decent salaries to reflect the
skills they have.
It stocks a limited variety of each product. So, for example, it has 3 varieties of tinned
tomatoes, 3 varieties of baked beans etc. All tinned products are available in one size
only. While this limits customer choice, it does mean that Foods R Us can bulk-buy more
effectively.
It has a scanning system that requires customers to put each scanned item in the trolley,
to be packed away from the checkout.
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Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
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The shop only carries stock that it requires, it does not store surplus stock in a
warehouse. This means that it must buy often but also that it does not tie up any money
in holding stock or paying for warehouse premises or warehouse staff.
Food R Us does not have any promotional displays at the tills, or at the ends of aisles.
Type your explanation below.
Using the case study for Food R Us, the benefits of using lean in this situation are that with it
being a small retailer, they would have found that by being open between the hours of 9am
and 9pm they have a steady stream of customers. This means they are making the most of
the employees time and reducing any waiting around. By not being open through the night
they will reduce energy and wage costs, and also ensure that the employees do not work
unsociable hours reducing the likelihood of accidents due to the employees being tired. With
parking being free they are providing a service that adds value for the customer. Sourcing
their fruit and vegetables locally reduces transport costs which also reduces the impact on
the environment. It also means that the produce will be fresher and more appealing to the
customers and will have a slightly longer shelf life. If customer demands changes they can
react more quickly to supply and demand.
With the employees being multi skilled, it means that productivity will increase because
every operation within the store will be covered should there ben issue in any part of the
process. It will also mean that they can rotate the employees to reduce fatigue and keep
employees engaged. Paying a good wage will ensure that there is less likelihood of staff
looking for employment elsewhere, reducing the need to source and train new employees.
By limiting the variety of product to 3 decreases the likelihood of overproducing the items
ensuring a reduction in waste by not having to store excess stock and reduces the risk of
product passing the sell by date.
By implementing a self checkout scanning system shows that the company has identified a
potential bottleneck and put a system in place which will reduce double handling of the
products, increase efficiency and reduce staff headcount as only one staff member would be
required to resolve any issues. The scanning system will also increase the efficiency of the
purchasing department by ensuring an on demand system can be implemented.
Because the company only holds the stock they need, they reduce their inventory cost and
save cost of storage. This also ensures that excess stock would not encroach onto the shop
floor thus reducing health and safety hazards for both staff and customers while increasing
the ability for staff to move stock around the store. By choosing not to put promotional
displays at the tills and at the end of aisles they have reduced the cost of non-value added
processes thus increasing their margin. This decision would have the added benefit of
reducing transportation and motion waste by eliminating the non-value added processes of
moving stock around for short periods.
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Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
Now that you have completed Section 1 of your assessment, remember to save the
work you have done so far – you will need to send your work to your tutor for marking
once you have completed all 3 sections of this assessment.
Section 2: Implementing the productivity needs analysis process [LO2]
This section will help you to evidence Learning Outcome 2: Be able to implement the
productivity needs analysis process.
Learning objective
Place in assessment
2.1 Describe the process for conducting a productivity needs
analysis.
Question 1 Page 5, 6
2.2 Undertake a productivity needs analysis in a selected
organisation
Question 2 Page 6, 7, 8
1. Describe the process for conducting a productivity needs analysis (PNA). Use the
boxes below to complete your answer. [2.1]
What is the purpose of the PNA?
The purpose of the PNA is to give you a starting point so you can measure the businesses
productivity. Using a sequence of steps one can identify areas within the production process,
which can then be improved further to become more efficient. It also gives a good indication
of where your business is when compared to where you want it to be and highlight the areas
that need more attention to reach the objective.
What are the steps of the PNA and who is involved in these steps?
There are 5 steps involved in PNA:
Step 1: Measure the relevant information areas. Undertaken by both Management, Staff and
include information gathered from the Customer.
Step 2: Prioritise the measures. Undertaken by Management and Staff.
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Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
Step 3: Set objectives. Set by Stakeholders and Management.
Step 4: Design the Processes to reach the objectives. Implemented by Management and
Staff.
Step 5: Deliver required outputs to reach the desired productivity. Delivered by Management
and Staff with feedback from the Customers and Stakeholders.
What areas should be covered in the PNA?
The areas you should look at are:
Customers: Collect and study data regarding customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction, customer
complaints and product returns.
Delivery: Collect and study data regarding on time delivery, delivery costs and customer
waiting times.
Overheads: Collect and study data regarding non fulfilment penalties in customer contracts
for failing to meet on time delivery requirements and also data on the utilisation of floor
space.
Quality: Study data on defects collected using either part per million or part per thousand,
the type of defects, root cause analysis rework and scrap statistics.
People: Conduct surveys to determine staff proficiency, their learning abilities, their
satisfaction levels, their sickness records and staff qualification levels.
Safety. Study the data regarding accidents and near misses.
Costs. Study items like product costs both manufacturing cost and price to customer and
debt payment information.
2. Undertake a Productivity Needs Analysis (PNA) for the organisation in the case study
below. [2.2]
You must remember to follow the steps of the PNA:
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Measuring relevant areas
Prioritise measures
Set objectives
Processes to reach objectives (across scales of the organisation)
Case study
A small-scale but rapidly growing cereal manufacturer, Rise Right, is considering adopting
lean organisation techniques to improve its business. Currently, the organisation produces
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Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
over five types of different breakfast cereals although they would like to develop the range
further.
Rise Right’s production plant is too small to meet the demands of the business’ growth. In
addition, it struggles to accommodate the frequent deliveries of incoming materials and
outgoing finished goods. The plant itself is inconveniently 30 miles away from the
organisation’s storage depots. Therefore, the transport costs to move produce to storage is
an unwanted financial burden for Rise Right. If this cost and delivery issue isn’t resolved
soon, Rise Right will see a considerable dip in their profits.
The Product Development team at Rise Right is aware of how competitive the cereal market
is. There are plans to trial two new cereal bars. If the campaign is successful and well
received Rise Right will look to permanently produce the bars alongside their traditional
cereal. However, this will depend on customer satisfaction of price, consistency and taste.
Recently, Rise Right has had some safety concerns with the team lifting raw materials into
production areas. Last month, there were 24 reported incidents of spillages and injuries
through incorrect manual handling. Whilst safety is usually of an incredibly high standard this
minor issue is still an area of the business which needs investigating and amended in the
future.
Use the sections below to complete each step of your Productivity Needs Analysis.
a. Which areas should be measured to increase Rise Right’s productivity?
The areas that should be measured to increase productivity are:
Delivery.
Overheads.
Safety.
Customer.
b. Now that you’ve identified measures, prioritise the measures from most important to
least important. Give reasons for your answer.
1. Delivery: Delivery is being impacted by the size of the manufacturing facility as well as the
distance of the storage facility from the manufacturing facility. This creates multiple issues
such as high wastes in terms of transporting goods between the manufacturing facility and
the storage facility which will affect profitability. The frequent raw material deliveries also
creates issues as does the frequent outgoing deliveries to customers which could impact on
the on time deliveries.
2. Safety: Although it is not stated, the inference is that there has been an increase in
manual handling related injury and spillage issues. This is a major risk to the business in
terms of reputation and potential injury claims.
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Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
3. Overheads: The costs associated with separate storage facilities as well as the transport
costs of finished product will erode the margins and risk the business becoming unprofitable.
4. Customer: Maintaining and increasing customer satisfaction by introducing new products
will help to maintain profitability and increase competitiveness.
c. Set objectives to close the productivity gap by suggesting what the company could
do to close the productivity gap in these areas.
Objectives
1. Delivery: The company must look into moving to larger premises to combine the
manufacturing and storage facilities within 6 months. This would reduce the issues created
with their inability to accommodate frequent deliveries of incoming materials and outgoing
finished goods, to zero. It would also reduce the transport costs of moving finished goods
between the manufacturing and storage facilities to zero.
2. Safety: Reduce manual handling related injuries and spillages by 80% within 6 weeks by
immediately implementing manual handling training.
3. Overheads: By moving into larger premises and combining the manufacturing and storage
facilities would reduce the overheads by 50% within 12 months.
4. Customer: Introduce a new product introduction plan for the two new cereal bars within 6
weeks by conducting a customer satisfaction survey to understand the voice of the customer
with a plan to introduce the cereal bars within 12 months.
d. What processes could be implemented to meet objectives? Think about scales of
organisation (individuals, teams, departments, organisation). State the objectives you
have already mentioned (in 2c) in the left-hand column. In the right-hand column,
describe processes that could be implemented to close the productivity gap and
conclude the PNA.
Objectives
Processes
Objective 1:
Set up a team to look into the costs and logistics of
sourcing and moving premises with minimum impact to
the businesses ability to supply to customer demand.
Instruct the transport department to analyse the current
process to find gaps which could improve vehicle volumes
and planning to ensure only full loads are transported in
the short term.
Delivery: Moving to
larger premises within
6 months.
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Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
Objective 2:
Safety: Reduce
manual handling
related issues by
80%.
Objective 3:
Get HR and Purchasing to source a training company to
conduct manual handling training. HR to set up a training
schedule for all staff and distribute to heads of
departments for roll out.
Reducing overheads
by 50% within 6
months
To be run alongside and by the team conducting the
process for Objective 1.
Accounts to gather information showing the current cost
situation and then run a comparison after the completion
of Objective 1.
Objective 4:
The sales team to design and implement a customer
survey to understand the voice of the customer in terms of
price, consistency and taste.
Production to create a production plan for producing
samples of different flavours as well as costing sheets for
each cereal bar.
Complete a customer
survey within 6
weeks.
Now that you have completed Section 2 of your assessment, remember to save the
work you have done so far – you will need to send your work to your tutor for marking
once you have completed all 3 sections of this assessment.
Section 3: Producing a process map
This section will help you to evidence Learning Outcome 3: Be able to produce a process
map.
Learning objective
Place in assessment
3.1 Produce a process map using appropriate symbols and
terminology for an identified process
Question 1 Page 10, 11
1. Using one of the two scenarios provided, produce a process map. Make sure it
includes the appropriate symbols and terminology. You can find commonly used
symbols below to copy and paste into your process map. On your process map, give
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Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
consideration to value added and non-value-added steps in the process and any
waste which occurs. [3.1]
Scenario A
At a call centre, there is a set process for the disposal of confidential documents. Files are
first sorted and separated depending on whether they contain confidential information or not.
If the files are confidential, they are passed on to a nominated employee who is tasked with
making sure the files are properly shredded and disposed of. Once shredded, the waste is
placed in confidential waste bags and the confidential waste disposal team are contacted.
Bags are stored in a locked cupboard until the waste disposal team arrive to securely
remove the waste. When creating your process map you might consider:
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Passing files on
Deciding which files should be shredded
Documenting which files have been shredded and disposed of
How waste is disposed.
Scenario B
A large supermarket takes customer concerns very seriously and has implemented a
customer complaints procedure so that they are dealt with properly. At the moment,
customer complaints must be recorded in writing by a member of staff and then passed on to
their line manager. Depending on the severity of the complaint, the line manager will either
act upon the complaint or pass it on to a senior manager. Once a complaint has been dealt
with it is then physically stored as well as documented in an electronic database. When
creating your process map you might consider:
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Who complaints should be passed on to.
Whether complaints should be acted upon.
How severe the complaint is.
How complaints are reported, documented and stored.
Start/end flow
Document
Process/Activity
Decision – yes or no
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Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques
Unit 1: Lean organisation techniques in business
Storage
Database
Flow line
SEE ATTACHED
Now summarise your conclusions about the process. Include your consideration on valueadded and non-value-added steps in the process and any waste which occurs.
This activity is almost entirely Business Non-Value Activity except for the shredding of the
documents which would be Value Added as this would be of interest to the customer
because it would safeguard confidential information about themselves. Another area which
could be seen to add value would be the recording of the documentation which was
shredded because this would give confidence to the customer that this information was now
destroyed.
The waiting for collection of Confidential Waste bags is a non-value-added step and can be
streamlined by pre-scheduling the Confidential Waste collection and shredding the files just
in time for collection.
Scheduling the waste collection would have the added advantage of reducing the time
wasted by the nominated employee as the employee would be able to better plan the
activity.
Another improvement could be substituting a digital recording system for a paper based
system which again would reduce physical paper waste from the system.
Now that you have completed all 3 sections of this assessment, go to
www.vision2learn.com. Log in to the platform and send your assessment to your tutor
via your My Study page for marking. Good luck!
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