Process Management & Improvement Flashcards
7 cards from real COM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Process Management & Improvement flashcards as text
A process has a Cp of 1.5 but a Cpk of 0.8. What does this indicate?
Answer: The process has sufficient spread but is not centered within specification limits
Cp measures potential capability (spread relative to specs) while Cpk accounts for centering; Cp > Cpk indicates the process is off-center even though its spread is adequate.
Which of the following best describes 'heijunka' in lean production?
Answer: Leveling production volume and mix over time
Heijunka is production leveling — smoothing out the volume and variety of work over a period to reduce unevenness (mura) and overburden (muri).
A cross-functional team redesigns a billing process and reduces steps from 22 to 9. This type of effort is best described as:
Answer: Business Process Reengineering (BPR)
BPR involves radical redesign of core processes to achieve dramatic improvements in performance, unlike incremental continuous improvement approaches.
In the context of process improvement, what does FMEA primarily help an operations team do?
Answer: Proactively identify and prioritize potential failure modes before they occur
FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) is a proactive risk tool that identifies potential failures, assesses their severity and likelihood, and prioritizes corrective actions.
An organization adopts ISO 9001:2015 certification. The most fundamental requirement of this standard is that organizations must:
Answer: Implement and maintain a documented quality management system
ISO 9001:2015 requires organizations to establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve a quality management system meeting the standard's requirements.
A manager notices that 78% of customer complaints stem from 3 out of 21 process steps. Addressing these 3 steps first reflects which principle?
Answer: Pareto Principle (80/20 rule)
The Pareto Principle states that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes — focusing on the vital few sources of problems yields the greatest improvement.
Which of the following is a key difference between 'common cause' variation and 'special cause' variation in process management?
Answer: Common cause variation is random and systemic; special cause variation is due to identifiable, assignable factors
Common cause variation is the natural, random variation built into every process, while special cause variation results from specific, identifiable factors that fall outside the system's normal behavior.