• Pick a job you do often, such as going to the grocery store or making coffee
• Keep it simple because you will find there are more steps involved than what it appears at a quick glance.
• Break this job down into smaller activities. Some will involve waiting, such as waiting for the washer to complete its cycle. Or there may be inspection such as looking for stains. Then if you find a stain you may pre-treat the stain. Possibly there is extra motion, in that the laundry soap is not close by. Really dig into what you do every step of the way.
• 1. Construct a process flowchart (20 pts).
  • Classify each step as either operation, transportation, inspection, delay or storage, refer to Chapter 6, Figure 6.5. Create an excel file with columns for each category: Operation, Transportation, Inspection, Delay, Storage, Time, and Distance. The rows list the steps.
  • Assign either or both distance or time as a means to determine areas for improvement. You can make an educated guess.
  • If you can't identify which category applies for a step, then most likely you have combined two steps into one. Break the step down further.
• 2. Identify bottlenecks, potential failure points, and opportunities for improvement.

Figure 6.5