AME Quality Control & Process Improvement 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In lean process improvement, 'waste' (muda) that occurs when an AME performs tests not required by FAA standards is classified as:
- Waiting waste
- Overproduction waste (Correct answer)
- Motion waste
- Defect waste
Correct answer: Overproduction waste
Performing unnecessary tests beyond what is required constitutes overproduction waste in lean terminology.
Question 2: A value stream map of an AME examination process is primarily used to:
- Calculate the AME's annual revenue
- Identify steps that add value versus those that create waste (Correct answer)
- Train new staff on equipment operation
- Satisfy FAA continuing education requirements
Correct answer: Identify steps that add value versus those that create waste
Value stream mapping visualizes the entire process flow to distinguish value-added steps from non-value-added waste.
Question 3: Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) assigns a Risk Priority Number (RPN) by multiplying:
- Frequency, cost, and detectability
- Severity, occurrence, and detectability (Correct answer)
- Severity, frequency, and cost
- Occurrence, cost, and impact
Correct answer: Severity, occurrence, and detectability
RPN = Severity × Occurrence × Detection; higher RPNs indicate failure modes requiring priority attention.
Question 4: During an internal audit of an AME practice, the auditor finds that audiometric equipment calibration logs are missing for three months. The most immediate corrective action is to:
- Discard the equipment and purchase new units
- Suspend all audiometric testing and document the gap per the corrective action procedure (Correct answer)
- Retroactively create the missing log entries
- Notify pilots retroactively that their hearing tests were invalid
Correct answer: Suspend all audiometric testing and document the gap per the corrective action procedure
Suspending the affected process and formally documenting the nonconformance ensures regulatory compliance and initiates proper corrective action.
Question 5: The 'check sheet' quality tool is most useful for:
- Displaying the distribution of a dataset
- Systematically collecting and tallying frequency data in real time (Correct answer)
- Mapping cause-and-effect relationships
- Ranking defect types by cumulative impact
Correct answer: Systematically collecting and tallying frequency data in real time
A check sheet provides a structured form for collecting and tallying frequency data as events occur.
Question 6: Which benchmarking type compares an AME office's processes against those of best-performing non-medical organizations to gain breakthrough ideas?
- Internal benchmarking
- Competitive benchmarking
- Functional benchmarking
- Generic benchmarking (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Generic benchmarking
Generic benchmarking compares processes across unrelated industries to identify transferable best practices and innovative approaches.
Question 7: A histogram of examination wait times at an AME office is right-skewed. This means:
- Most wait times are long, with a few very short ones
- Most wait times are short, with a few very long outliers (Correct answer)
- Wait times are uniformly distributed
- The data contains no variation
Correct answer: Most wait times are short, with a few very long outliers
A right-skewed histogram has the bulk of data on the left (short times) with a tail extending right due to occasional long wait times.
AME Quality Control & Process Improvement 3
In lean process improvement, 'waste' (muda) that occurs when an AME performs tests not required by FAA standards is classified as: