LMC Tools and Techniques in Lean 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In a Kanban system, what does a Kanban card primarily signal?
- A request to produce or replenish a specific item (Correct answer)
- A defect report that must be resolved immediately
- A schedule for the next production shift
- An authorization to increase batch size
Correct answer: A request to produce or replenish a specific item
A Kanban card is a visual signal that authorizes and triggers the production or movement of a specific item to replenish what was consumed.
Question 2: Which Lean tool is used to visually separate normal operating conditions from abnormal ones on the shop floor?
- SMED
- Visual management (Correct answer)
- Kaizen blitz
- Heijunka
Correct answer: Visual management
Visual management uses color codes, shadow boards, and floor markings so that abnormalities are immediately apparent to anyone on the floor.
Question 3: What is the primary objective of SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die)?
- Eliminate all setup activities permanently
- Reduce changeover time to less than 10 minutes (Correct answer)
- Balance workload across all operators
- Standardize the number of product variants
Correct answer: Reduce changeover time to less than 10 minutes
SMED aims to reduce equipment changeover time to single-digit minutes (under 10 minutes) by converting internal setup steps to external ones.
Question 4: A production team uses Poka-Yoke on an assembly fixture. What outcome does this primarily achieve?
- Increased machine uptime through predictive maintenance
- Prevention of incorrect part installation by a physical design feature (Correct answer)
- Faster changeover by eliminating adjustment steps
- Reduced material cost through standardized components
Correct answer: Prevention of incorrect part installation by a physical design feature
Poka-Yoke (mistake-proofing) uses physical or electronic mechanisms to prevent defects from occurring or escaping to the next process step.
Question 5: In the context of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), what does 'autonomous maintenance' require operators to do?
- Replace maintenance technicians entirely
- Perform basic cleaning, inspection, and minor repairs on their own equipment (Correct answer)
- Schedule all preventive maintenance activities
- Approve capital expenditures for new machinery
Correct answer: Perform basic cleaning, inspection, and minor repairs on their own equipment
Autonomous maintenance transfers basic care tasks—cleaning, lubricating, and inspecting—to operators so they develop ownership and detect early signs of equipment deterioration.
Question 6: Which metric does Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) combine to measure manufacturing productivity?
- Quality, Cost, and Delivery
- Availability, Performance, and Quality (Correct answer)
- Uptime, Throughput, and Yield
- Cycle time, Takt time, and Lead time
Correct answer: Availability, Performance, and Quality
OEE = Availability × Performance × Quality, capturing losses from downtime, speed reduction, and defects in a single percentage score.
Question 7: When applying the 5 Whys technique, what is the expected final output?
- A ranked list of all possible causes weighted by probability
- Identification of the root cause by repeatedly asking why a problem occurred (Correct answer)
- A statistical control chart showing process variation over time
- A corrective action plan signed off by senior leadership
Correct answer: Identification of the root cause by repeatedly asking why a problem occurred
The 5 Whys drills down through symptom layers by asking 'why' repeatedly until the true root cause is uncovered, enabling effective corrective action.
LMC Tools and Techniques in Lean 2
In a Kanban system, what does a Kanban card primarily signal?