PPMP20009 Case Study Sample
Your Task
You will complete a Gemba Walk on a process performed at your workplace. 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 your organisation.
Create a four-page (maximum) case study using knowledge you obtain from performing the Gemba Walk within your current workplace.
NOTE: Your case study will be shared with others, therefore ensure what you provide is appropriate and able to be shared. You will need to get a photo of you completing the Gemba Walk, therefore ensure you have permission to do this from the organisation.
Discuss with your tutor early, if you believe you are not able to produce a case study relating to your current workplace, for example, if you are not currently working.
For more information on developing case studies:
https://venngage.com/blog/case-study-examples/#5
For more information on ‘Gemba walks':
https://insights.btoes.com/resources/what-is-going-to-gemba-lean-kaizen-definition-introduction
HINT In the Week 1 tutorial you considered a process that you would review, and whether the scope of the process was narrow enough. The table below gives an example of feedback identifying issues with the process they chose. If you are unsure of the scope of your process, you should discuss this with your tutor early in your tutorial.
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,
b. what type of business the organisation performs, and
c. your role within the organisation. (3 marks).
2. Explain the process that you observed during the Gemba Walk. This should enable someone with no knowledge of the organisation or process to:
a. understand the process,
b. what the purpose of the process is and
c. where the process fits within the larger system. (3 marks)
Make sure the scope of the process is well defined and small.
Large scopes may reflect multiple processes, and this may hinder your ability to obtain good marks.
3. Describe how you completed the Gemba Walk. (6 marks)
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.
e. Any tools that you used during the Gemba Walk e.g. pre-prepared questions, tally sheet, safety clothing, etc.
HINT: A photo of the tool is a great visual inclusion for your report.
f. A photo of you completing the Gemba Walk.
4. Describe what insights you gained from completing the Gemba Walk (6 marks) Include the following:
o What you observed.
o What you learnt from staff working with the process.
o Name and discuss the specific ‘Lean Waste’ that you identified during your Gemba Walk?
The diagram below was sourced from the following website which provides more information on Lean Wastes https://tulip.co/blog/8-wastes-of-lean-manufacturing/
5. Describe the lean transformation project you will propose. Your response should identify how will you remove or reduce the Lean Waste you identified. Ensure you state key activities that will be required. (6 marks)
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.”
https://www.creativesafetysupply.com/qa/lean-manufacturing/what-is-the-goal-of-lean
6. Discuss and justify whether the lean transformation project that you propose should be managed as a waterfall or agile project. (2 marks)
Note: Just because this is a ‘lean transformation project’ it is not necessarily suited to an Agile project management approach.
7. 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. (10 marks)
Solution
Q1.
a. Name of the organization
Patel safety and construction
b. Type of business
Patel safety and construction associated with the manufacturing of crash barriers for the parking lots and roadside along with sharp turns. University Assignment Help, Recently the organization started the production of crash barriers and delivered a complete range of W-beam crash barriers.
.png)
Figure 1: Products of Patel and construction
(Source: indiamart.com, 2023)
c. Role within the organization
I am working as a civil engineer to manage the progress of the project without affecting the quality of the end product. Supervising the work and maintaining infrastructure of the project is my main responsibility.
Q2.
a. Understand the process
Gemba is a Japanese word that means the real place. Performing the Gemba walk would provide opportunity to the leaders of Patel and construction to identify the real issue within the production process and interact directly with the employees to understand the real issue.
b. Purpose of the process
Main purpose of Gemba Walk is to recognise the real issue within the organization by visiting the real place where management can see the process of the state by themselves (Romero et al. 2020). As a part of the kaizen methodology, Gemba walk supported and encouraged communication to build trusted relationships with lower level of employees.
c. Fitting the process
The process is fit with the larger system as it enables leaders of Patel and construction to recognize the KPI gaps and prioritize the areas that require higher attention of management.
Q3.
a. Location
Survey No.160, At-Hasanpur, Taluka-Visnagar, District -Mehsana, Visnagar-384315, Gujarat, India.
b. Time and data
The Gemba walk took place from 19th February 2023, 11.00 pm.
c. Time of completion
To gain effective information about the function of different departments of organizations, it is necessary to visit each of the departments of Patel and construction for about 45 minutes to understand the process of work and rectify the issue within it. Based on the size of the department, 15 to 45 minutes per unit is sufficient to complete the Gemba walk successfully. Gemba walk of this duration is adequate for collecting information by interviewing employees and gathering their insight about the organizational performance.
d. Present during Gemba walk
During the Gemba Walk, the owner of Patel and construction, Mr. Shailesh Patel took a walk with me and other department managers of the organization to get a clear idea about the present situation of the organizational function. Each stop on the walk is centered for 3 minutes and if the discussion board lasts more than 3 minutes then someone responsible is assigned to coordinate the meeting further.
e. Use of tool
Well-designed pre-prepared questionnaire has been used in the Gemba walk to gain insight of employees about the organizational function. Example of questions:
What is your role in the organization?
How does the task align with the organizational goal?
What do you do to complete the specific task?
What is your alternative plan if unexpected things occur during the task performance?
.png)
Figure 2: Gemba tool
(Source: Romero et al. 2020)
Q4.
a. Observation
Patel and construction is associated with installation of crash barriers on the side of the road and sharp turn and now the organization also started manufacturing the crash barriers to improve its significance in the market. It is observed that employees of the organization often have to wait to complete their task as co-dependent tasks are not fully synchronized. Waiting for equipment and skill monopolies are the significant issue within the organization.
b. Learning
It has been learned from the employees of Patel and construction workers that they often have to wait for two or four hours for proper equipment to come that interrupted the workflow and delayed the delivery of the order.
c. Identification of lean waste
Time is the lean waste that has been through the Gemba walk and it affects the working progress of Patel and construction. Workers have to wait idle due to the absence of proper equipment that is required to complete the task. On the other hand, unplanned equipment downtime is another significant issue that needs to be resolved by the management of Patel and construction.
.png)
Figure 3: Waiting waste lean
(Source: Dalton and Dalton, 2019)
Q5.
Description of lean transformation
Improve communication
To reduce or eliminate the bottlenecks from the production, the company can emphasize on integration of an effective communication model that will ensure the continuous flow in the work. Involvement of proper communication strategy will enable employees to synchronize their work and create standard working plans to support the progress.
Balancing the production procedure
Balancing the production process with the use of different procedures such as Takt time and Yamazumi boards that will help in matching the different tasks and create more productive production cycle time (Dalton and Dalton, 2019). On the other hand, involvement of scheduled maintenance processes also eliminates the risk of equipment downtime and allows workers to complete the task within allocated time.
Implementation of standard operating procedure
Creating a standard work plan and implementation of proper operating procedure enable the organization to maintain the flow in production and reduce the risk of time waste. In addition to that, minimizing the rate of transportation also improves the movement between cells and helps in achieving the desired outcome from the production.
Q6.
Justification of lean transformation project
Application of this particular lean transformation management will ensure that Patel and construction successfully reduce the time wastage and enhance the productivity of the business. As the ultimate goal of lean management is to improve the production rate and satisfy the needs of customers, therefore, this approach will be best managed with agile as it will break down the large task into manageable small tasks and help in achieving 75% lead time reduction that will improve the market position of the company.
Q7.
ADKAR model
Awareness
Creating awareness about the benefit of online communication tools to improve the level of communication. Use of video chat, messenger and email notification will strengthen the communication process. Introduction of the agile approach will be helpful to manage the large orders and ensure the successful outcome from the business (Kaminski, 2022).
Desire
Be aware about the feelings of employees and involve specific action to address all their queries to ensure the successful implementation of change. Taking necessary action to explain the reason for the changes is also important for management.
Knowledge
Provide training to employees so that they can prepare to manage the changes and different visual documentation such as flow charts can be used to make them realize about the best business practice (Bekmukhambetova, 2021).
Ability
Monitor the behavior of employees and make constructive feedback so that effective processes can be implemented within the working process. Involvement of effective leadership strategy will help in motivating employees to adopt the new changes within the organizational function.
Reinforcement
Use of workflow diagrams and flowchart will help in identifying the problematic areas and provide opportunity to find solutions for the issue. Visual presentation will help in reinforcing ideas within the company and encourage employees to implement changes.
Reference list
Bekmukhambetova, A., (2021). Comparative analysis of change management Models Based on an Exploratory Literature Review.
Dalton, J. and Dalton, J., (2019). Gemba walks. Great Big Agile: An OS for Agile Leaders, pp.173-174.
Indiamart.com, (2023), About us. Available at: https://www.indiamart.com/patelsafety-construction/profile.html [accessed on: 10.3.2023]
Kaminski, J., (2022). Theory applied to informatics–The Prosci ADKAR Model. Editorial.Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, 17(2).
Romero, D., Gaiardelli, P., Wuest, T., Powell, D. and Thürer, M., (2020).New forms of Gemba walks and their digital tools in the digital lean manufacturing world.In
Advances in Production Management Systems. Towards Smart and Digital Manufacturing: IFIP WG 5.7 International Conference, APMS 2020, Novi Sad, Serbia, August 30–September 3, 2020, Proceedings, Part II (pp. 432-440). Springer International Publishing.
Would you like to schedule a callback?
Send us a message and we will get back to you
Highlights
Earn While You Learn With Us
Confidentiality Agreement
Money Back Guarantee
Live Expert Sessions
550+ Ph.D Experts
21 Step Quality Check
100% Quality
24*7 Live Help
On Time Delivery
Plagiarism-Free
81 Isla Avenue Glenroy, Mel, VIC, 3046 AU
