COM Process Management & Improvement 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A hospital applies the Theory of Constraints to its emergency department. The patient intake desk is identified as the bottleneck. According to TOC, what should be done first?
- Add more staff to all departments equally
- Exploit the bottleneck by maximizing its throughput (Correct answer)
- Subordinate the bottleneck to other departments
- Eliminate the intake desk process entirely
Correct answer: Exploit the bottleneck by maximizing its throughput
TOC's five focusing steps begin with identifying the constraint, then exploiting it — getting the maximum output from it before adding resources.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a control chart's Upper Control Limit (UCL) and Lower Control Limit (LCL)?
- Define customer specification requirements
- Distinguish natural process variation from special-cause variation (Correct answer)
- Set targets for process improvement goals
- Establish acceptable defect rates for the industry
Correct answer: Distinguish natural process variation from special-cause variation
Control limits are statistically derived from the process itself and separate common-cause variation (normal) from special-cause variation (requiring investigation).
Question 3: An operations manager wants to reduce process variation using the PDCA cycle. After implementing a change in the 'Do' phase, what happens in the 'Check' phase?
- Plan the next improvement initiative
- Standardize the solution across the organization
- Measure results and compare them to the expected outcomes (Correct answer)
- Assign responsibilities for implementation
Correct answer: Measure results and compare them to the expected outcomes
The Check phase analyzes the data collected during the Do phase to determine whether the change achieved the desired improvement.
Question 4: Which lean concept describes the ideal state where production is triggered only by actual customer demand?
- Push system
- Pull system (Correct answer)
- Kanban overflow
- Batch processing
Correct answer: Pull system
A pull system produces goods only in response to downstream demand signals, preventing overproduction and excess inventory.
Question 5: A Kaizen event is best described as which of the following?
- A long-term, multiyear process redesign project
- A focused, short-duration team-based improvement event (Correct answer)
- An annual management review of process metrics
- A software tool for tracking quality defects
Correct answer: A focused, short-duration team-based improvement event
A Kaizen event (or blitz) is an intensive, time-boxed workshop (typically 3–5 days) where a cross-functional team tackles a specific process problem.
Question 6: When mapping a process, a team discovers rework loops that add 30% to total processing time. In lean terms, this rework is classified as which type of waste?
- Motion
- Inventory
- Defects (Correct answer)
- Transportation
Correct answer: Defects
Rework is a direct result of defects — one of the 8 lean wastes — requiring additional time, materials, and resources to correct non-conforming output.
Question 7: A Certified Operations Manager uses error-proofing devices to prevent defects at the source. What is the Japanese term for this concept?
- Muda
- Poka-Yoke (Correct answer)
- Heijunka
- Jidoka
Correct answer: Poka-Yoke
Poka-Yoke refers to mistake-proofing mechanisms that make it impossible or immediately detectable when an error occurs.
COM Process Management & Improvement 3
A hospital applies the Theory of Constraints to its emergency department.
The patient intake desk is identified as the bottleneck.
According to TOC, what should be done first?