CLL Waste Identification & Process Improvement 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In a Lean context, which scenario best illustrates the waste of 'overproduction'?
- A machine breaks down halting the assembly line
- A factory produces 500 units when customer demand is only 300 (Correct answer)
- Workers wait for materials to arrive before starting their task
- A product requires three inspection stages before shipping
Correct answer: A factory produces 500 units when customer demand is only 300
Overproduction means producing more than what the customer currently demands, creating excess inventory and tying up resources.
Question 2: Which Lean tool is specifically designed to make waste visible by mapping every step, delay, and information flow in a process?
- 5S
- Kanban
- Value Stream Mapping (VSM) (Correct answer)
- Poka-Yoke
Correct answer: Value Stream Mapping (VSM)
Value Stream Mapping visualizes all steps in the process to expose waste such as delays, excess inventory, and non-value-added activities.
Question 3: A nurse walks to the supply room 12 times per shift to retrieve items that could be stored at the point of care. Which of the 8 wastes does this primarily represent?
- Defects
- Overproduction
- Motion (Correct answer)
- Waiting
Correct answer: Motion
Unnecessary movement of people within a workspace is classified as the waste of Motion in Lean thinking.
Question 4: During a kaizen event, the team discovers that a report is printed and handed to three managers who each re-enter the same data into separate spreadsheets. This is an example of which waste?
- Transportation
- Extra Processing (Correct answer)
- Defects
- Overproduction
Correct answer: Extra Processing
Redundant data entry and unnecessary steps beyond what the customer requires represent the waste of Extra Processing (over-processing).
Question 5: Which of the following best describes a 'pull system' in Lean production?
- Production is scheduled based on long-term sales forecasts
- Each process produces only what the next downstream process requests (Correct answer)
- Supervisors push work orders to each workstation each morning
- Large batches are produced and stored in finished-goods inventory
Correct answer: Each process produces only what the next downstream process requests
A pull system triggers production only when downstream demand signals it, preventing overproduction and excess inventory.
Question 6: When applying the waste reduction concept of 'right-sizing,' a team replaces one large batch-processing machine with three smaller machines positioned inline. The primary benefit achieved is:
- Higher throughput per machine
- Reduced transportation and smoother flow (Correct answer)
- Lower unit cost through economies of scale
- Increased operator specialization
Correct answer: Reduced transportation and smoother flow
Right-sized equipment positioned in sequence reduces transportation waste and enables continuous one-piece flow.
Question 7: Which metric directly reflects the combined impact of equipment breakdowns, setup time, and quality defects on productive capacity?
- Takt Time
- Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) (Correct answer)
- Cycle Time
- Lead Time
Correct answer: Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
OEE measures availability, performance, and quality together, exposing hidden capacity losses from all three sources of equipment waste.
CLL Waste Identification & Process Improvement 2
In a Lean context, which scenario best illustrates the waste of 'overproduction'?