Foundation Competence L2 UPK 004a (MOD)

1. Describe the health and safety requirements of the area in which they are carrying
out the business improvement activities.

The health and safety requirements that are required carrying out the business
improvement activities are, Management of health and safety at work regulations 1999.
This requires employers to carry out risk assessments, make arrangements to implement
necessary measures, appoint competent people and arrange for appropriate information,
PPE and training. Control of Substances Hazardous to Health regulations 2002 (COSHH), this
requires that employers must control substances that are hazardous to health, for example
battery acid. Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995
(RIDDOR) This regulation requires any accident, injury, death or near miss must be reported
and recorded.

Wearing the correct PPE, for example wearing safety shoes, safety glasses and overalls.
More specific PPE practices would involve having long hair tied back and not wearing
clothing with loose parts that could become trapped in the machinery.

To check if equipment is safe to use, a perform a pre-use check should be done. A pre-use
check will allow you to see any damage to the equipment e.g., frayed wires, bent socket
pins, signs of heat damage. This allows any issues to be resolved before it’s a hazard to
yourself or others.

It’s important to PAT test electronic devices. This is usually done annually. PAT testing
involves visually checking the device and using PAT testing equipment. These tests include
earth continuity, lead polarity and insulation resistance checks

It is important to do isolation procedures before doing any maintenance tasks. An isolation

procedure should be done to ensure the safety of the person carrying out the work. To
adhere to this procedure, you must:

 Obtain the permission required for the work being carried out
 Confirm that all test equipment is working correctly
 Identify the supply source using this test equipment
 Isolate the supply by removing the installation from the mains (or the rest of the
circuit)
 Appropriately secure/lock off the isolation so that it cannot be tampered with
 Use test equipment to ensure that the circuit is “dead” (no current is flowing
through it)
 Put up warning signs to show that the system has been isolated

In college when doing the Bandsaw SOP I wore overalls, safety boots and protective
eyewear. I isolated the Bandsaw before the standard operating procedure is started.

Attached below is 1.3 risk assessment and 1.4 SOP

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2. Explain the importance of following a systematic Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA)
approach to problem-solving and business improvement.

PDCA involves planning the improvement, implementing the improvements, making sure
the improvements are sufficient and if amendments or changes need to be made, act on it.

This process is simple but an effective framework for fixing issues at any level within an
organisation. PDCA’s allow testing of possible solutions on a small scale in a controlled
environment. The repetitive approach allows finding and testing solutions and improving
them. It prevents work processes from recurring mistakes as well as it allows continuous
improvement of people and processes.

Attached below is 1.2 PDCA used in college.

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3. Outline the implications of not taking account of legislation, regulations, standards

and guidelines when conducting business improvement activities.

Failure to comply with these requirements can have serious consequences - for both
organisations and individuals. Sanctions include fines, imprisonment, and disqualification.
Other implications are compensation and sick pay for the individual that is off work in the
case of an accident. If I didn’t follow the above when creating the standard operating
procedure for the bandsaw, I could harm myself and others as well as damage the
machinery and equipment. This can result in jeopardising my position within the college and
the MOD.

4. Explain the importance of applying the appropriate behaviours in the workplace

and the implications for both the apprentice and the business if these are not
adhered to.

X refer to Unit 001, Q3

5. Describe what is meant by business improvement and how continuous

improvement activities can benefit a company.

Business process improvement (BPI) is aimed at identifying the operations or employee

skills that could be improved and give smoother procedures, more efficient workflow, and
overall business growth. This process can also be referred to as functional process
improvement.

Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve processes throughout the college,

such as staying on top of the maintenance of machinery like the bandsaw to maximise
performance.

In college I created a BIT improvement SOP, this involved creating a daily maintenance
schedule to maximise the performance of the bandsaw.

Attached below is 1.4 SOP

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6. Outline the application of the seven key measures of performance in lean

(delivered right first time, delivery schedule achievement, people productivity,
stock turns, overall equipment effectiveness, value added per person, floor space
utilisation) (where applicable to the job role).

1. Delivered right first time

Not Right First Time (NRFT) measures a product’s ability to match a specification and is
expressed in ‘number of defect parts per million’. Not getting things right first time means
wasted effort, wasted resources, and wasted production time. leading to excess costs,
interrupted production flow, poor quality and ultimately higher prices. Reducing NRFT will
help improve quality, cost, and delivery.

2. Delivery Schedule Achievement

Delivery Schedule Achievement (DSA) measures how well a supplier matches the planned
delivery requirement of the customer. The ability to deliver products on time is important to
customer satisfaction. However, 100% on time delivery must be achieved without
unnecessary additional costs such as special deliveries, overtime payments, increases in

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stocks, scrap, or rework costs. These additional costs reflect a lack of control over the
manufacturing process.

3. People Productivity

People Productivity (PP) is a measure of the ratio between the number of good units made
and the number of direct operator hours it takes to make those units. Using this measure
can help control the people cost associated with production. This objective is to maximise
the PP figure by either reducing the direct operator involvement or increasing the number
of good units made. Measuring PP helps you focus in on a key element of product cost and
reduces processing time, for example by reducing wasteful work and standardising the
process. Best practice means avoiding overproduction.

4. Stock Turns

Stock Turns (ST) is a measure of how frequently the stock (raw material, work-in-progress
and finished goods) are turned over in relation to the sales revenue of a product. Stoc turns
is an important measure because it reflects the level of control and co-ordination of
materials that flow through the process. Inventory levels (by value or quantity) are key
indicators of the leanness of the process and are directly related to the simplicity of
production flows. In contrast, excess inventory means unnecessary cost.

5. Overall equipment effectiveness

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) measures the availability, performance and quality of
a process. The OEE measure shows how well the business is utilising its resources, including
equipment and labour.

6. Value Added Per Person

Value Added Per Person (VAPP) is a financial measure that relates the number of direct
people involved in the conversion process to add value to the product. The VAPP has a
direct impact on the costs associated with a process and shows specifically how well people
are used to transform materials into the finished product.

a. Output value is the sales value of the unit after production.

b. Input value is the value of the raw material unit before production.
c. Direct employees are those employees without which the production process
cannot operate

7. Floor Space Utilisation

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Floor Space Utilisation (FSU) is a measure of the sales revenue generated per square metre
of factory floor space. This measure relates the value of the factory space to the generation
of sales and demonstrates how effective use of space can reduce the fixed cost element of
the unit.

7. Describe how to obtain and interpret information on the engineering/manufacturing

operation or process requirements (e.g. customer specifications and instructions,
quality control requirements, product drawings/specification, methods and techniques
to be used).

As part of BIT in college, I had to do a PDCA, an SOP and a risk assessment. I firstly had to
obtain the project brief to identify the requirements for the PDCA and the SOP. I carried out
a risk assessment before-hand to identify the hazards and outlined the ways in which I could
reduce the risks.

Unit 016 tasks in college uses drawings and diagrams, these are designed in accordance with
BS3939 and are shown in the de-energised state. Quality links to the inspection sheets used
while completing Unit 016 projects. All documents are located via Moodle or Teams and can
be printed off to form a hardcopy.

Attached below is 1.1 inspection sheet.

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8. Explain the eight wastes (over-production, inventory, transport, overprocessing,

waiting time, operator motion, bad quality, failure to exploit human potential) and
how to eliminate these forms of waste in a process or operation.

1. Transport

Waste in transportation includes movement of people, tools, inventory, equipment, or

products further than necessary. Excessive movement of materials can lead to product
damage and defects. Additionally, excessive movement of people and equipment can lead
to unnecessary work, greater wear and tear, and exhaustion.

Transport waste can be eliminated by minimising the travel distance from one process to an
adjacent one. Also reducing batch size through SMED (Single-minute exchange of dies) and
Improving factory layout using value stream mapping and process mapping can give huge
savings in time and money which are good methods of reducing transportation waste.

2. Inventory

Having more inventory than necessary to sustain a steady flow of work can lead to
problems. This includes product defects or damage materials and greater lead time in the
production process. Excess inventory can be caused by over-purchasing, overproducing
work in process (WIP), or producing more products than the customer needs. Excess
inventory prevents detecting production-related problems since defects have time to
accumulate before it is discovered. As a result, more work will be needed to correct the
defects.

To eliminate inventory waste, you should look at factory and layout and balance your
production processes to ensure that work in progress does not build up between processes.
Minimise the amount of machinery being used at one time, it is not necessary to use all
machines at one time (if possible). Kanban can be used to help ensure balance of processes
and prevent the build-up of inventory.

3. Motion

The waste in motion includes any unnecessary movement of people, equipment, or

machinery. This includes walking, lifting, reaching, bending, stretching, and moving. Tasks
that require excessive motion should be redesigned to enhance the work of personnel and
increase the health and safety levels.

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To reduce motion waste, you can rearrange workspaces to have more efficient layouts.
Moving equipment and materials needed for manufacturing processes closer together will
go a long way to reduce motion and the time elapsed while retrieving materials.

4. Waiting

The waste of waiting includes, people waiting on material or equipment and idle equipment.
Waiting time is often caused by unevenness in the production stations and can result in
excess inventory and overproduction.

In college, waiting waste can include waiting for others to respond to an email, having
assignments waiting for review and waiting for the computer to load software like Solid
Works.

Standard Operating Procedures ensure that standards and methods are clear. This will allow
machinery and staff to work efficiently reducing wait time. Using multi-skilled/flexible
human resources so that people can respond quickly and be re-tasked to other areas as
demand changes is another method of reducing waiting waste

5. Overproduction

Overproduction occurs when manufacturing a product or an element of the product before

it is being asked for or required. Overproduction can lead to a number of problems including
preventing smooth flow of work, higher storage costs, requiring more capital expenditure to
fund the production process, and excessive lead-time.

Using just in time manufacturing enables the production of product only when it is ordered,
using techniques such as Kanban to enable the Pull of production. Also evaluating what is
actually needed and what will reduce overproduction of unnecessary items.

6. Over-processing

Over-processing refers to doing more work, adding more components, or having more steps
in a product or service than what is required. In manufacturing this could include using a
higher precision equipment than necessary, using components with capacities beyond what
is required and adjusting a component after it has already been installed.

The use of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) can provide written instructions for all of
employees. SOPs will ensure the standardisation of methods across shifts and personnel,
combined with on the job training this is an effective way to improve the quality of your
product as well as ensuring the reduction in Overprocessing.

7. Defects

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There are four countermeasures for defects. Firstly, you should look for the most frequent
defect and amend it. Secondly, you should design a process to detect abnormalities and do
not pass any defective items along the production process. Thirdly, you should redesign the
process so that does not lead to defects. Lastly, use standardised work to ensure a
consistent manufacturing process that is defect free.

It can be difficult to completely eliminate defect waste, however there are methods of
reducing them. implementing stringent work standards, creating and following quality
control processes, and ensuring that all team members are properly trained can help in
reducing the defects.

8. Skills

Even though it was not part of the Toyota Production System (TPS), many people are well
aware of the 8th waste - the waste of human potential. The 8th waste is also described as
the waste of unused human talent and ingenuity. This waste occurs when organizations
separate the role of management from employees. In some organizations, management’s
responsibility is planning, organizing, controlling, and innovating the production process.
The employee’s role is to simply follow orders and execute the work as planned. By not
engaging the frontline worker’s knowledge and expertise, it is difficult to improve processes.
This is due to the fact that the people doing the work are the ones who are most capable of
identifying problems and developing solutions for them.

9. Explain the importance of arranging and labelling the necessary equipment for
rapid identification and access.

Labelling is important because it helps to identify the equipment being stored, but also
clearly mark the storage areas and any rules or regulations that need to be adhered to, this
will maintain a safe work environment. At college when I use the soldering kit, I return the
soldering kit to the box marked “soldering kits”. This allows the next person to find the kit
next time and maintains good housing keeping, eliminating trip hazards, and missing
equipment. Tooling used with the bandsaw are stored in labelled tool boxes and arranged
so they can be found easily by the next person and to prevent any tooling from getting lost.

Attached below is a photo of me returning the soldering kit.

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10. Describe how to use “root cause” problem solving analysis using the 5 whys/how
technique.

The “5 Whys” is a simple problem-solving technique that helps you to get to the root of a
problem quickly. Benefits of the 5 Whys include:

•It helps you to quickly determine the root cause of a problem.

•It's simple, and easy to learn and apply.

How to Complete the 5 Whys/how you're looking to solve a problem, start at the end result
and work backward

1. Write down the specific problem. Writing the issue helps you formalize the problem and
describe it completely. It also helps a team focus on the same problem.
2. Ask Why the problem happens and write the answer down below the problem.
3. If the answer you just provided doesn’t identify the root cause of the problem that you
wrote down in Step 1, ask Why again and write that answer down.
4. Loop back to step 3 until the team agrees that the problem’s root cause is identified.
Again, this may take fewer or more times than five Whys.

Attached below is an example of 5 whys.

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11. Describe methods of evaluating improvement ideas in order to select those that
are to be pursued.

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and so a SWOT
analysis is a technique for assessing these four aspects of an organisation. SWOT Analysis
is a tool that can help you to analyse what a company does best right now, and to devise a
successful strategy for the future.

The evaluation design matrix is a tool for planning and organising an evaluation. It is simply
a table with one row for each evaluation question and columns that address evaluation
design issues such as data collection methods, data sources.

Attached below is an example of a SWOT analysis and an evaluation matrix.

12. Describe how improvements to the process could be achieved by engaging the
knowledge and experience of the people working on the process.

By engaging the current workforce within an organisation gives ownership of any business
improvement being developed. Years of experience and knowledge ensures that the
improvements are beneficial as the workforce may have come across problems and created
solutions due to their experience on the task. People working on this process will have an
extensive knowledge of what they need to do, so if you discover a problem the first thing to
do would be to report it to people actually on the process as they are more than likely to
know what has gone wrong. If something has gone wrong or needs improvements, the

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people involved in that process may have suitable ideas for improvements to that specific
process.

13. Explain the importance of creating standard operating procedures (SOPs) and of
relating work activities to them.

An SOP is a set of policies, standards, and procedure that every business/organisation needs
in the management and operations to ensure success. The importance of an SOP is to give
step by step instructions that act as a guideline for every employee to follow within their
work process. When a SOP is followed an employee will produce a product which is
consistent and predictable.

Attached below is pillar drill SOP 1.4 used in college.

14. Describe the methods that can be used to communicate information using visual
control systems (e.g. Kanban systems, card systems, colour coding, floor footprints,
graphs, team boards, tool/equipment shadow boards).

Using visual methods to communicate information is a better way to get information across
because a picture gives a better visual representation. It is much easier and faster to take
information in via visuals i.e., engineering drawings or map of the shop floor as you can
clearly see everything. Also shadow boards are a visual system as everything has a place so
it is easy to see if any equipment is missing from the board.

Visual controls are an important part of management in every manufacturing and office
workplace allowing quick recognition of the information being communicated, to increase
efficiency.

 Kanban systems – is a method for managing the creation of products with a

continual deliver while not overwhelming the development team. Using Kanban can
help team work together more effectively.

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 Colour coding- this is a well-known process and used by many in our daily lives. It
provides an additional layer of visualisation for a task board.
 Floor footprints- The purpose of footprints is to designate a home location. As you
improve an area, if outdated footprints remain on the floor and new ones go in, it
will result in confusion.
 Graphs- the different types of graphs used are bar charts, histograms, run charts and
tally charts.

A Bar Chart is a graphical representation of different occurrences which shows the number
of times different things occur. E.g., Reasons for failure.

A histogram is a graphical representation of frequency distribution, where you can visually

see the spread of data for one thing.

A run chart is a graph that shows how the things change over time. This is a simple and
visual means of tracking trends and variation over time. It does not show whether that
change or trend is good or bad.

15. Describe how information can be displayed differently depending on various work
applications.

There are different ways to display information. One way is an information board which will
show you specific information regarding the area you are in. For example, in an engineering
workshop it will show what PPE to wear and if there are any hazardous substances in the
area. Also, who the first aiders are in the area in case of an injury. You can also use a KPI
board which shows you if you are on track or behind on certain tasks. It also shows if you
have the correct number of men for the job, if there are any safety concerns in the area and
if the quality of the product you are making is up to standard.

Drawings can show dimensions and tolerances. The use of graphical symbols such as points,
lines, curves, planes, and shapes. Essentially, it gives detailed description about any
component in a graphical form.

An SOP is to give step by step instructions that act as a guideline for every employee to
follow within their work process.

Attached below is an SOP 1.4 created in college for the bandsaw and a drawing used for unit
30 (CAD)

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