PPMP20009 Leading Lean Projects Case Study 1 Sample

PPMP20009 Leading Lean Projects Case Study

Assignment Task

You will complete a Gemba Walk on a process performed at your workplace or other selected organisation. Students are required to identify an organisation for this activity before the end of Week 3 and get permission from a responsible person in that organisation to complete the Gemba Walk activity. If you do not work or cannot get approval from your workplace, you can select any other workplace. However, you must physically attend that workplace for the Gemba Walk. Students cannot use a previous workplace experience or complete an online version of the Gemba Walk for this assessment.

During the Gemba Walk, you will look to identify an opportunity for Lean Transformation in that environment, specifically by identifying a Lean Waste within a specific process within the organisation.

Create a four-page (maximum) case study using knowledge you obtain from performing the Gemba Walk.

Criteria and marking breakdown:

1. Using your knowledge of the organisation and a ‘Gemba Walk’ provide an overview of the organisation. You should include:

a. the name of the organisation. If it is a large organisation with multiple branches, you must include the local branch details where you will complete the Gemba Walk. This is the physical scope for your assessment,

b. what type of business the organisation performs, and

c. your role within the organisation (staff or visitor/consultant etc).

2. Pre-Gemba Walk Management Meeting

Before completing the Gemba Walk you will need to talk to the manager of the organisation or the section you will be performing the Gemba Walk. Before meeting with them, you should prepare a list of questions and a short plan for the meeting. During the discussion you should ask them which process they think could benefit from a lean transformation and why – you should give priority to their suggestion where possible.

You should explain to them the nature of the Assessment and seek permission from them to complete it. This should be completed in your own time (*The Gemba Walk is NOT TO BE COMPLETED during your normal shift – you will not be able to address the requirements effectively as your normal work and the Gemba Walk will be different).

a. Provide the questions and the plan you developed for your meeting with the manager.

b. Provide a summary of information that the manager provided about the process, including the process they suggested to observe and their reasons.

3. Describe how you completed the Gemba Walk.

Include the following:

a. The location that you performed the Gemba Walk (e.g., the address of the organisation’s building you attended to complete the Gemba Walk).

b. When the Gemba Walk was undertaken including date and time,

c. How long the Gemba walk took to complete.

d. Who was present during the Gemba Walk.

4. Explain the process that you observed during the Gemba Walk. This should enable someone with no knowledge of the organisation or the process to understand the process fully. In your response you should address the following:

a. What is the purpose of the process?

b. What is the input to the start of the process?

c. What is the output of the process?

d. Who is the customer of the process you observed?

e. Is the customer internal or external?

f. What would be the voice of the customer about the output of the process?

g. What is the value the process adds to the organisation’s goals.

5. To ensure that your Gemba Walk progresses smoothly you should use certain tools e.g., pre-prepared questions, tally sheet etc

a. Describe the tool/s that you used,

b. why you used the tools.

c. provide a photo of the completed tool/s.

d. Also provide a photo of you completing the Gemba Walk using a selected tool, and the marker needs to identify you clearly in the photo.

6. Describe a summary of insights you gained from completing the Gemba Walk Include the following:

a) What you visually observed.

b) What you learnt from speaking with staff working with the process (include their name/s and role/s)

c) Name and discuss ONE specific ‘Lean Waste’ that you identified during your Gemba Walk.

7. Describe the lean transformation project you will propose to address the Lean Waste identified (to eliminate or mitigate the Waste).

a. Your response should identify how will you remove or reduce the Lean Waste you identified.

b. Ensure you state key activities that will be required to implement the lean transformation project.

c. Ensure the actions you propose align with the concept of ‘Lean thinking’ which is described in the following quote:

“Lean thinking is used by companies who are looking to improve efficiency and eliminate wastes. The ultimate goal for Lean manufacturing is to create quality products that satisfy the customer and meet demand with as little resources as necessary.”

8. Discuss and justify whether the lean transformation project that you propose should be managed as a waterfall or agile project.

9. Using the ADKAR model, describe how you would manage the change necessary to implement the outputs of the lean transformation project that involves the actions described in question 5. Your response must be specific to your project.

Case Study Presentation

10. Your case study must be presented professionally, including correct spelling and grammar, is a maximum of four pages, and is reflective of the examples provided in the Venngage web link on the first page of this document, (e.g., visually appealing, concise, etc.).

This case study must be in the format of a brochure and not in the format of a conventional report. There should be no executive summary, Table of Contents, Introduction, Conclusion or Recommendations. References are not expected to be included in this assessment which is the output of your own Gemba Walk.
Do not include a cover page. It will form a part of your page limit and is wasted space.

Solution

Task 1

K-mart is a retail company which owns chains of big box departmental stores. Kmart represents its vision to be a great place to shop which is simple to run and produces customers with better products at lower prices. It is an Australian chain of retail departmental stores. Kmart products include bedding, apparel and kitchenware. It also provides various types of stylish home decoration and home purchasing products from bedroom to kitchen. K-Mart is an international organization and the Gemba walk is conducted in its Altona Branch. I am a visitor to the organization that is conducting interviews with its employees.

Task 2

Questions to be asked

1. How many of your employees are experienced or Freshers?

2. What challenges are your employees facing while doing their work?

3. Which learning platforms are used to train employees?

4. What career development opportunities does your company provide to the employees?

5. What safety measures have you undertaken to reduce accidents within the workplace?

6. How often do you review the performance of your employees?

The manager in Kmart said that most of the employees are experienced and online learning platforms like Udemy and SkillShare are used to train employees about the relevant skills. Employees are reviewed quarterly for their performance and employees are provided with all kidneys of safety gear and equipment during work. Specialized training is also provided to reduce the risk of accidents. Employees face certain difficulties in communication problems during their work for MBA assignment expert.

Task 3

A) The Gemba walk was done in a 42-60m model place in the Kmart delivery apartment in Altona.

Address: 124/134 Millers Road, Altona North VIC 3025, Australia

Date: 15/11/23

Time: 11:00 Am to 1 PM (Two hours)

People Present:

Oliver Adams (Data Scientist)

Amelia Allen (Engineer)

Charlie Bennett (Demand Planner)

Jack Blackman (Functional Analyst)

William Anderson (Solutions Architect)

Carter Bailey (Data Scientist)

Noah Baker (Accountant)

Archie Bell (Iteration Manager)

Charlie Carter (finance executive)

Task 4

Gemba Walk has helped the management to understand the business process and seek various ways to increase efficiency. The purpose of conducting the Gemba Work is to value the performance of the employees who are working in the Altona Kmart Branch. It has helped to round a detailed overview of their performance and working conditions. It helps to understand the challenges they are facing and what steps are to be needed to improve their performance and productivity which will help to fulfill the organizational objectives.

The reason to start the Gemba walk in Kmart is to evaluate the performance of employees in the Kmart Altona Branch. After conducting the Gemba walk it was found that employers need to adopt modern safety equipment and new learning platforms to improve employees' performance. After conducting the Gemba walk the top management gotta know the steps to be undertaken to improve employee performance. The top management is the customer of the Gemba Walk which is one of the internal elements of the organization. The top management in Kmart gets to identify the problem and frame the actions which are to be undertaken. The Gemba Walk process has helped to detect the positive and disruptive innovations and will help Kmart to analyze and improve the business process which will help to equate time and money. It has helped Kmart to identify the rate of improvement.

Task 5

Pre-prepared Questions are used while conducting the Gemba walk. Prepared questions are used in the Gemba walk as it have helped to releaser possible scenarios and conduct practice from the perspective of the managers. It has helped to gather detailed insights into the operations of K-mart and the perspectives of employees. Charlie Carter(finance executive) told us about the implementation of new technologies in the operation and manufacturing to reduce cost and increase profitability.

Task 6

During the Gemba walk, I observed the ways in which the employees are working and what challenges they are facing in their work. I learned about the learning platform used for their training in K-mart. Oliver Adams (Data Scientist) told us about the modern solutions which are being undertaken to launch and design new products in the retail market. During the Gemba Work, I observed Lean waste as the inventory. It was found that Kmart was having more inventory than necessary which was leading to product defects, material damage and inefficient capital allocation.

Task 7

A standardized lean transformation project will help Kmart to deal with its inventory p[problems. It will help to establish safe procedures for making the product the easiest and safest in the most effective way on the basis of the current technologies. Implementing Technologies like Blockchain and the Internet of Things will help to manage inventory in an effective manner. Before setting up the lean transformation project the value of the products has to be identified. After Mapping the value streams a pull system is to be implemented for continuous improvement in the inventory management.

Task 8

The lean transformation can be managed as a waterfall project management. A sequence of project phases has to be conducted with the defined sequences of execution with various project phases. As in this case if one phase is completed will be significantly difficult to revisit the previous phase. The phases will be planning, designing, implementation, verification and maintenance.

Task 9

Table 1: Adkar Model
(Source: Self-created)