Process Analysis

&
Improvement
Professor Winfred S William
Xavier Institute of Management
Bhubaneswar
 What is a Process

 An orderly, prescribed sequence of events

intended to produce a product or outcome.
Random house Unabridged Dictionary
WHAT IS A BUSINESS PROCESS?
Business process is ‘A set of logically related
tasks performed to achieve a defined
business outcome.” A process is “a
structured, measured set of activities
designed to produce a specific output for a
particular customer or market. It implies a
strong emphasis on how work is done within
an organization,” according to Davenport.
 Benefits of Process Mapping

 Puts a spotlight on waste

 Streamlines work processes
 Defines and standardizes the steps and
sequence
 Promotes deep understanding of the process
being mapped
 Builds consensus - helps to get people to agree
on a process
Process Mapping and Improvement

1. Define the process boundaries (starting

point/stopping point).
2. Document the process (steps and sequence)
3. Draw appropriate symbols
4. Check for completeness
5. Evaluate performance.
6. Redesign process.
7. Implement changes.
Process Chart Symbols
 Example of Process Flowchart
Date: 9-30-02 Location: Graves Mountain
Analyst: TLR Process: Apple Sauce

Distance
Operation
Transport

Description
Storage
Inspect

(feet)
(min)
Time
Delay
Step

of
process

1 Unload apples from truck 20

2 Move to inspection station 100 ft
3 Weigh, inspect, sort 30
4 Move to storage 50 ft
5 Wait until needed 360
6 Move to peeler 20 ft
7 Apples peeled and cored 15
8 Soak in water until needed 20
9 Place in conveyor 5
10 Move to mixing area 20 ft
11 Weigh, inspect, sort 30

Page 1 0f 3 Total 480 190 ft

Example of Mapping
 Process Mapping Tools

 Process Maps
– A visual model
of a process

2-9
 Flowchart of the Process Showing
Handoffs Between Departments

To Accompany
 “Baseline” Time-Function Map
Order Receive
Customer product product

Process
Sales order
Order

Production Wait
control

Product
Order

Plant A Print

Product
WIP

Warehouse Wait Wait Wait

Product
WIP
WIP
WIP

Plant B Extrude

Transport Move Move

12 days 13 days 1 day 4 days 1 day 10 days 1 day 0 day 1 day

52 days
 “Target” Time-Function Map
Order Receive
Customer product product

Process
Sales order

Product
Order

Production
control Wait
Order

WIP
Plant Print Extrude

Product
Warehouse Wait

Product
Transport Move

1 day 2 days 1 day 1 day 1 day

6 days
 To-Be
Work Permit process flow
Employee
Company

Request Receive
Work Permit physical WP

Save employee
HR Officer
Company

data on disk
Physical
WP
Upload data at
Receive
Labour Office Pay WP fee
payment receipt
Computer Department

Issue
Labour Office

Data OK
physical WP
Employee

WP
WP Check
Payment Data incorrect
Fee Employe Correct
receipt
e empl. data
data
Branch Officer
Bank

Receive payment
and return receipt
Copyright e-Government
Program (Yesser)
 Basic Process Vocabulary

 Processing times: how long does the worker

spend on the task
 Capacity= 1/ processing time: how many units
can the worker make per unit of time
 Bottleneck: process steps with lowest capacity
 Process capacity: capacity of the bottleneck
 Flow rate = Min(Demand rate, Process
Capacity)
 Utilization= Flow Rate / Capacity
 Three basic measures of process

 Flow rate / throughput: number of flow units

going through the process per unit of time
 Flow time / throughput time: time it takes a flow
unit to go from the beginning to the end of the
process
 Inventory: the number of flow units in the
process at a given moment of time
 Flow Unit: Customer or product (Sandwich)
 Measuring Process Flows

 Little’s Law
– Relates number of items in the system to arrival rate
and length of time in the system
– Formula:
I=TxR
I = average number of things in the system
T = average throughput time
R = average flow rate into the process
 Assumes system is in a ‘steady state’
 Inventory - Flowtime on
Cumulative Inflow and Outflow graphs
Patients
at the
radiology 11 Cumulative
10 Inflow

9
8 Cumulative
7 Outflow
Flow Time
6 Patient Patient
Inventory Arrival Departure
5
4
3
2
1
0 Inventory=Cumulative Inflow – Cumulative Outflow

7:00 8:00 9:00 10:0011:00 12:0013:0014:0015:0016:0017:0018:00 Time

17
Number Arrival Time Departure Time Flow Time

1 7.35 8.50 1.15

2 7.45 10.05 2.20

3 8.10 10.10 2.00

4 9.30 11.15 1.45

5 10.15 10.30 0.15

6 10.30 13.35 3.05

7 11.05 13.15 2.10

8 12.35 15.05 2.30

9 14.30 18.10 3.40

10 14.35 15.45 1.10

11 14.40 17.20 2.40

 Thruput on
Cumulative Inflow and Outflow graphs
Patients
at the
radiology 11
10
9
8
7
Slope is the thruput
6
5
4
3
7:00 8:00 9:00 10:0011:0012:0013:0014:0015:0016:0017:0018:00Time
2
Thruput is 11 patients per day of 11 working hours.
19
1
0
 Little’s law

Long run averages = Expected values

I=RxT
I=Inventory; R=Thruput; T=Flowtime

10/minute
Spend 1 minute

1 minute is the flow time, T=1 minute

10 per minute is the throuput rate, R=10/minute
10=10x1 units is the inventory
20
 Little’s powerful law

* Powerful formula: Does not depend on

– The sequence of the service
» First-in-first-out or Last-in-first-out
– Distribution of the service times
» Uniform or Normal
» Formula is for the averages, anyway
* Out of the three measures (I,R,T), two can be chosen by
management, the other is given by the formula.

21
 Value-Stream Mapping

1. Begin with symbols for customer, supplier,

and production to ensure the big picture
2. Enter customer order requirements
3. Calculate the daily production
requirements
4. Enter the outbound shipping requirements
and delivery frequency
5. Determine inbound shipping method and
delivery frequency
 Value-Stream Mapping

6. Add the process steps (i.e., machine,

assemble) in sequence, left to right
7. Add communication methods, add their
frequency, and show the direction with
arrows
8. Add inventory quantities (shown with I )
between every step of the entire flow
9. Determine total working time (value-added
time) and delay (non-value-added time)
 Material Flow Icons
C/T = 45 sec.
ASSEMBLY
XYZ Corporation C/O = 30 min.
3 Shifts

Manufacturing Outside 2% Scrap

Process Sources Data Box

Mon.
+ Wed.
300 pieces
Truck Supermarket Buffer or 1 Day
Shipment Safety Stock Inventory

max. 20 pieces
Finished
Goods to FIFO Physical
Customer First-In-First-Out Pull/Withdrawal
Sequence Flow

PUSH
Arrow

24
 Information Flow Icons

Manual Electronic
Information Information Signal
Flow Flow Kanban

General Icons
Operator

25
Value-Stream Mapping

Figure 7.5
Process Analysis / Evaluation

Questioning Technique
The questioning technique is the means by
which the critical examination is conducted, each
activity being subjected in turn to a systematic
and progressive series of questions.
 PRIMARY QUESTIONS

the PURPOSE for which

the PLACE at which
the SEQUENCE in which
the PERSON by whom
the MEANS by which
 ELIMINIATING
COMBINING
With a view to REARRANGING those activities
OR
SIMPLIFING
 SECONDARY QUESTIONS

The secondary questions cover the second

stage of the questioning technique, during which
the answers to the primary questions are
subjected to further query to determine whether
possible alternatives of place, sequence,
persons and means are practicable and
preferred as a means of improvement upon the
existing method.
PURPOSE: what is done?
why is it done?
what else might be done?
what should be done?

PLACE: where is it done?

Why is it done there?
Where else might it is done?
Where should it be done?
SEQUENCE: When is it done?
Why is it done?
When might it be done?
When should it be done?
PERSON: who does it?
Why does that person do it?
Who else might do it?
Who should do it?
MEANS: How is it done?
Why is it done that way?
How else might it be done?
How should it be done ?
 Tools for Process Mapping

 VISIO (MSOFFICE)
 Process Maker (www.processmaker.com)
 SmartDraw (www.smartdraw.com)
 www.interfacing.com
Thank you