CPM Lean Manufacturing & Waste Reduction Flashcards

A plant using one-piece flow notices an increase in quality defects caught immediately. This is an advantage because:

Answer: Each unit is inspected in isolation, reducing the cost of scrap and rework

One-piece flow enables immediate defect detection at each process step, minimizing the number of defective units produced before a problem is identified.

In lean manufacturing, 'poka-yoke' devices are designed to:

Answer: Prevent defects by making errors impossible or immediately detectable

Poka-yoke (mistake-proofing) uses physical or electronic devices to prevent incorrect actions or signal immediately when an error occurs.

Which metric best indicates whether a lean improvement reduced inventory waste in a value stream?

Answer: Days of inventory on hand (DOH)

Days of inventory on hand directly measures how much inventory sits in the system, making it the clearest metric for inventory waste reduction.

A plant manager is applying lean principles to administrative processes such as order processing and scheduling. This application is called:

Answer: Lean Office or Transactional Lean

Lean Office (Transactional Lean) applies lean tools like value stream mapping and waste elimination to administrative and information-processing workflows.

What is the purpose of a 'red-tag' exercise during a 5S Sort phase?

Answer: Identify and quarantine items whose necessity at the workstation is uncertain

Red-tagging items during Sort allows the team to remove or hold items of unclear value, enabling decisions about whether they belong at the workstation.

In a lean plant, 'mura' refers to:

Answer: Unevenness or variability in production volume or scheduling

Mura (unevenness) is one of the three lean 'M's — alongside muri (overburden) and muda (waste) — and is addressed primarily through heijunka production leveling.