Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Lean Enterprise Principles 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In lean enterprise, which type of waste specifically refers to unnecessary movement of workers within a work area?
- Transportation
- Motion (Correct answer)
- Overprocessing
- Waiting
Correct answer: Motion
Motion waste refers to unnecessary physical movements of workers (reaching, bending, walking) that do not add value to the product.
Question 2: A lean enterprise team applies 'heijunka' to their production schedule. What does heijunka primarily accomplish?
- Eliminates all setup time between products
- Levels production volume and mix over time (Correct answer)
- Reduces defect rates to zero
- Identifies the process bottleneck
Correct answer: Levels production volume and mix over time
Heijunka levels production by smoothing out volume and product mix variations, preventing overburden and uneven workloads.
Question 3: Which lean principle emphasizes going to the actual place where work is done to observe and understand the current state?
- Poka-yoke
- Gemba (Correct answer)
- Hoshin kanri
- Catchball
Correct answer: Gemba
Gemba (Japanese for 'the real place') is the practice of going to where value is created to directly observe processes and identify waste.
Question 4: In the context of lean enterprise, 'muri' refers to which category of operational problem?
- Waste
- Unevenness
- Overburden (Correct answer)
- Defects
Correct answer: Overburden
Muri refers to overburden — unreasonable stress placed on workers or machines that leads to breakdowns, errors, and safety issues.
Question 5: A lean Black Belt wants to reduce changeover time between product variants. Which technique is specifically designed for this purpose?
- SMED (Correct answer)
- 5S
- TPM
- FMEA
Correct answer: SMED
Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) is a lean technique that reduces changeover time to less than 10 minutes by converting internal to external setup tasks.
Question 6: In a lean value stream map, a 'push' arrow indicates that material is being:
- Pulled based on actual downstream consumption
- Moved based on a schedule or forecast regardless of downstream need (Correct answer)
- Stored in a supermarket for pull replenishment
- Transported by external logistics
Correct answer: Moved based on a schedule or forecast regardless of downstream need
A push arrow shows that material is moved or produced based on a schedule or forecast, not on actual downstream demand signals.
Question 7: Which lean enterprise concept directly supports the idea that quality should be built into the process rather than inspected in at the end?
- Just-in-Time
- Jidoka (Correct answer)
- Kaizen
- Kanban
Correct answer: Jidoka
Jidoka builds quality into the process by stopping production when defects occur, preventing defective products from advancing downstream.
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Lean Enterprise Principles 3
In lean enterprise, which type of waste specifically refers to unnecessary movement of workers within a work area?