Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Lean Concepts and Waste 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the seven wastes occurs when workers must walk long distances or reach awkwardly to perform their tasks?
- Transportation
- Motion (Correct answer)
- Waiting
- Defects
Correct answer: Motion
Motion waste refers to unnecessary physical movement by people, such as excessive walking, bending, or reaching. Unlike Transportation (which involves moving materials), Motion focuses on the movement of workers themselves.
Question 2: In Lean terminology, what is 'Muda'?
- A type of value stream map
- Any activity that consumes resources without adding customer value (Correct answer)
- A Japanese scheduling method for production
- A metric used to measure process efficiency
Correct answer: Any activity that consumes resources without adding customer value
Muda is the Japanese word for waste and refers to any activity that uses resources but does not add value for the customer. Identifying and eliminating Muda is a core objective of Lean.
Question 3: Which waste type is represented by excessive raw materials, work-in-progress, or finished goods beyond immediate needs?
- Overproduction
- Inventory (Correct answer)
- Waiting
- Defects
Correct answer: Inventory
Inventory waste involves holding more stock than is needed at any given time, whether raw materials, WIP, or finished goods. Excess inventory ties up capital and can hide other process problems.
Question 4: What is the purpose of a 'Value Stream Map' in Lean methodology?
- To calculate the cost of poor quality
- To identify all value-added and non-value-added steps in a process (Correct answer)
- To assign work tasks to team members
- To document standard operating procedures
Correct answer: To identify all value-added and non-value-added steps in a process
A Value Stream Map visually depicts every step in a process flow, distinguishing between value-added activities and waste. It helps teams identify where to focus improvement efforts.
Question 5: Which Lean concept focuses on stopping production immediately when a defect is detected to prevent passing it downstream?
- Kaizen
- Jidoka (Correct answer)
- Heijunka
- Poka-Yoke
Correct answer: Jidoka
Jidoka, sometimes called 'autonomation,' is the principle of building in the ability to detect abnormalities and stop the process automatically or manually to prevent defects from propagating to the next step.
Question 6: In Lean, what does 'cycle time' refer to?
- The total time from customer order to delivery
- The time required to complete one unit through a specific process step (Correct answer)
- The time a product spends waiting between steps
- The time taken to set up a machine before production begins
Correct answer: The time required to complete one unit through a specific process step
Cycle time is the elapsed time to complete one repetition of a process step or produce one unit. It is distinct from lead time (order to delivery) and is used to balance workload across process steps.
Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Lean Concepts and Waste 1
Which of the seven wastes occurs when workers must walk long distances or reach awkwardly to perform their tasks?