What is MUDA and what does it represent in lean manufacturing?
MUDA is the Japanese term for waste. It represents any activity, expense, or resource in an organization that does not help produce or add value to an external customer. It includes unnecessary product functions, parts, assembly operations, and tight tolerances.
Define Jidoka and explain what it means.
Jidoka means “intelligent automation” or “humanized automation” or “automation with a human touch.” It’s an automated process that is self-aware enough to detect malfunctions or product defects, stop itself, and alert the operator. It builds quality by eliminating root causes of defects.
What is Poka-Yoke and how does it relate to error prevention?
Poka-Yoke is the Japanese term meaning “mistake-proofing.” It uses automatic devices or methods that either make it impossible for an error to occur or make the error immediately obvious once it has occurred. It implements fail-safe mechanisms to prevent defects.
What is Heijunka and what problem does it solve?
Heijunka means “leveling” or “production leveling.” It eliminates excessive variations in demand through coordinated sequencing of small production batches. It converts uneven customer pull into predictable value flow and is vital for implementing Just in Time (JIT). It addresses MURA (unevenness).
What is Kanban and what type of system does it represent?
Kanban is a signal board that communicates the need for material and tells the operator to produce another unit or quantity. It represents a “pull” system where parts are produced as needed rather than predetermined quantities (push system). It is a visual control method.
Define Kaizen and describe its core principle.
Kaizen is the Japanese word for constant or continuous improvement. The main element is having people at all organizational levels involved in the improvement process. Improvements are placed into action immediately rather than waiting for upper-level management approval.
What is Andon and what is its purpose?
Andon is a lighted visual indicator board that displays production status and alerts operators to problems. It is a tool for implementing Jidoka that communicates the state of the production process in real time.
What is Just in Time (JIT) and how does it differ from “Just in Case”?
JIT is an inventory strategy where companies receive goods only as they are needed in production, reducing inventory costs. It is the opposite of “Just in Case,” where items are manufactured before needed. JIT requires accurate demand forecasting but greatly reduces storage needs and inventory expenses.
What is MURA in the context of lean manufacturing?
MURA represents unevenness or variation in demand and production. It is one of the problems that Heijunka (leveling) attempts to eliminate by creating predictable, even production flow instead of fluctuating batches.
What are the 5S and list all five disciplines.
The 5S represent five disciplines for maintaining a visual workplace and are foundational to Kaizen and Lean Manufacturing. The five are: (1) SORT, (2) SET IN ORDER (Straighten), (3) SHINE (Sweep), (4) STANDARDIZE, and (5) SUSTAIN.
What is Total Quality Development and what does it combine?
TQD is the modern way of developing products competitive in the global economy. It combines the best engineering, best management, and best teamwork. It results in greatly reduced development time, reduced costs, higher quality, and increased product variety.
Name the three major elements of Total Quality Development.
(1) Basic Concurrent Engineering (BCE) or Basic Improvements in Clarity and Unity; (2) Enhanced Quality Function Deployment (EQFD); and (3) Quality Engineering using Robust Design (QERD). All three are needed for global competitiveness.
What are the three major determinants of market share and profitability in the global economy?
(1) Unit Cost, (2) Quality, and (3) Manufacturing Lead Time. Companies must deliver products at minimum cost, best quality, and minimum lead time from conception to final delivery.
List the five dimensions of profitability in product development.
(1) Product Quality - customer satisfaction and reliability; (2) Product Cost - capital and tooling; (3) Development Time - responsiveness and market returns; (4) Development Cost - investment to develop; and (5) Development Capability - team experience for future development.
What is the relationship between velocity, capacity utilization, and profit?
Velocity has the biggest impact on profit. Capacity utilization has the biggest impact on velocity. The fundamental question is: How to increase velocity without increasing capacity? The answer is: Waste elimination.
Define Concurrent Engineering and contrast it with sequential development.
Concurrent Engineering is the simultaneous consideration of all downstream activities likely to affect a product’s life cycle. Unlike sequential (over-the-wall) development, it breaks down departmental walls, enables frequent information exchange, and treats design, production, and field support as a single system.
What is a Multifunctional Product Development Team (PDT) and why is it essential to BCE?
A PDT is a cross-functional team with members from all relevant disciplines (design, manufacturing, marketing, etc.) that makes decisions about product design, production systems, and field support simultaneously. It is essential to BCE because it enables integrated, concurrent decision-making.
Explain the difference between the problem prevention approach and problem solving approach.
Problem Prevention (concurrent approach) emphasizes considering all parameters early, shifting activity to earlier program stages, and preventing problems from occurring. Problem Solving (traditional) fixes problems after they occur. Prevention is always better and costs less than correction.
What is Cash Drain #7 and why is it critical?
Cash Drain #7 is “Here is the Product, Where is the Factory?” - developing a product to near-completion before considering manufacturability. IT IS NOT A DESIGN IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT. Production capability and product design must be developed concurrently.
What is Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and how does concurrent engineering facilitate it?
DFM is ensuring that a product can be efficiently and effectively manufactured. Concurrent engineering facilitates DFM by involving production and field-support personnel early in design, enabling simultaneous optimization of functionality and producibility.
What does QFD stand for and what is its fundamental purpose?
QFD stands for Quality Function Deployment. Its fundamental purpose is to transform CUSTOMERS’ REQUIREMENTS into TARGETS FOR MEASURABLE ENGINEERING REQUIREMENTS. It ensures customer satisfaction is designed in from the beginning.
What is the House of Quality and why is it called that?
The House of Quality is the basic matrix tool of QFD. It is called a “house” because its structure resembles a building, with rooms representing different relationships between customer needs and engineering specifications, and a roof showing correlations between engineering specs.
Who developed QFD and when, and what was the original application method?
QFD was developed in Japan in the late 1960s by Professors Shigeru Mizuno and Yoji Akao. The first large-scale application was in 1966 by Kiyotaka Oshiumi of Bridgestone Tire using fishbone diagrams to identify causes and effects.
What is a Fishbone Diagram, who created it, and what is its purpose?
The Fishbone Diagram (also called Ishikawa Diagram, after creator Kaoru Ishikawa) is a tool used to systematically list all the different CAUSES that can be attributed to a specific PROBLEM (EFFECT). It helps identify reasons why a process goes out of control.
