Process Analysis
&
Improvement
Professor Winfred S William
Xavier Institute of Management
Bhubaneswar
What is a Process
An orderly, prescribed sequence of events
intended to produce a product or outcome.
Random house Unabridged Dictionary
WHAT IS A BUSINESS PROCESS?
Business process is ‘A set of logically related
tasks performed to achieve a defined
business outcome.” A process is “a
structured, measured set of activities
designed to produce a specific output for a
particular customer or market. It implies a
strong emphasis on how work is done within
an organization,” according to Davenport.
Benefits of Process Mapping
Puts a spotlight on waste
Streamlines work processes
Defines and standardizes the steps and
sequence
Promotes deep understanding of the process
being mapped
Builds consensus - helps to get people to agree
on a process
Process Mapping and Improvement
1. Define the process boundaries (starting
point/stopping point).
2. Document the process (steps and sequence)
3. Draw appropriate symbols
4. Check for completeness
5. Evaluate performance.
6. Redesign process.
7. Implement changes.
Process Chart Symbols
Example of Process Flowchart
Date: 9-30-02 Location: Graves Mountain
Analyst: TLR Process: Apple Sauce
Distance
Operation
Transport
Description
Storage
Inspect
(feet)
(min)
Time
Delay
Step
of
process
1 Unload apples from truck 20
2 Move to inspection station 100 ft
3 Weigh, inspect, sort 30
4 Move to storage 50 ft
5 Wait until needed 360
6 Move to peeler 20 ft
7 Apples peeled and cored 15
8 Soak in water until needed 20
9 Place in conveyor 5
10 Move to mixing area 20 ft
11 Weigh, inspect, sort 30
Page 1 0f 3 Total 480 190 ft
Example of Mapping
Process Mapping Tools
Process Maps
– A visual model
of a process
2-9
Flowchart of the Process Showing
Handoffs Between Departments
To Accompany
“Baseline” Time-Function Map
Order Receive
Customer product product
Process
Sales order
Order
Production Wait
control
Product
Order
Plant A Print
Product
WIP
Warehouse Wait Wait Wait
Product
WIP
WIP
WIP
Plant B Extrude
Transport Move Move
12 days 13 days 1 day 4 days 1 day 10 days 1 day 0 day 1 day
52 days
“Target” Time-Function Map
Order Receive
Customer product product
Process
Sales order
Product
Order
Production
control Wait
Order
WIP
Plant Print Extrude
Product
Warehouse Wait
Product
Transport Move
1 day 2 days 1 day 1 day 1 day
6 days
To-Be
Work Permit process flow
Employee
Company
Request Receive
Work Permit physical WP
Save employee
HR Officer
Company
data on disk
Physical
WP
Upload data at
Receive
Labour Office Pay WP fee
payment receipt
Computer Department
Issue
Labour Office
Data OK
physical WP
Employee
WP
WP Check
Payment Data incorrect
Fee Employe Correct
receipt
e empl. data
data
Branch Officer
Bank
Receive payment
and return receipt
Copyright e-Government
Program (Yesser)
Basic Process Vocabulary
Processing times: how long does the worker
spend on the task
Capacity= 1/ processing time: how many units
can the worker make per unit of time
Bottleneck: process steps with lowest capacity
Process capacity: capacity of the bottleneck
Flow rate = Min(Demand rate, Process
Capacity)
Utilization= Flow Rate / Capacity
Three basic measures of process
Flow rate / throughput: number of flow units
going through the process per unit of time
Flow time / throughput time: time it takes a flow
unit to go from the beginning to the end of the
process
Inventory: the number of flow units in the
process at a given moment of time
Flow Unit: Customer or product (Sandwich)
Measuring Process Flows
Little’s Law
– Relates number of items in the system to arrival rate
and length of time in the system
– Formula:
I=TxR
I = average number of things in the system
T = average throughput time
R = average flow rate into the process
Assumes system is in a ‘steady state’
Inventory - Flowtime on
Cumulative Inflow and Outflow graphs
Patients
at the
radiology 11 Cumulative
10 Inflow
9
8 Cumulative
7 Outflow
Flow Time
6 Patient Patient
Inventory Arrival Departure
5
4
3
2
1
0 Inventory=Cumulative Inflow – Cumulative Outflow
7:00 8:00 9:00 10:0011:00 12:0013:0014:0015:0016:0017:0018:00 Time
17
Number Arrival Time Departure Time Flow Time
1 7.35 8.50 1.15
2 7.45 10.05 2.20
3 8.10 10.10 2.00
4 9.30 11.15 1.45
5 10.15 10.30 0.15
6 10.30 13.35 3.05
7 11.05 13.15 2.10
8 12.35 15.05 2.30
9 14.30 18.10 3.40
10 14.35 15.45 1.10
11 14.40 17.20 2.40
Thruput on
Cumulative Inflow and Outflow graphs
Patients
at the
radiology 11
10
9
8
7
Slope is the thruput
6
5
4
3
7:00 8:00 9:00 10:0011:0012:0013:0014:0015:0016:0017:0018:00Time
2
Thruput is 11 patients per day of 11 working hours.
19
1
0
Little’s law
Long run averages = Expected values
I=RxT
I=Inventory; R=Thruput; T=Flowtime
10/minute
Spend 1 minute
1 minute is the flow time, T=1 minute
10 per minute is the throuput rate, R=10/minute
10=10x1 units is the inventory
20
Little’s powerful law
* Powerful formula: Does not depend on
– The sequence of the service
» First-in-first-out or Last-in-first-out
– Distribution of the service times
» Uniform or Normal
» Formula is for the averages, anyway
* Out of the three measures (I,R,T), two can be chosen by
management, the other is given by the formula.
21
Value-Stream Mapping
1. Begin with symbols for customer, supplier,
and production to ensure the big picture
2. Enter customer order requirements
3. Calculate the daily production
requirements
4. Enter the outbound shipping requirements
and delivery frequency
5. Determine inbound shipping method and
delivery frequency
Value-Stream Mapping
6. Add the process steps (i.e., machine,
assemble) in sequence, left to right
7. Add communication methods, add their
frequency, and show the direction with
arrows
8. Add inventory quantities (shown with I )
between every step of the entire flow
9. Determine total working time (value-added
time) and delay (non-value-added time)
Material Flow Icons
C/T = 45 sec.
ASSEMBLY
XYZ Corporation C/O = 30 min.
3 Shifts
Manufacturing Outside 2% Scrap
Process Sources Data Box
Mon.
+ Wed.
300 pieces
Truck Supermarket Buffer or 1 Day
Shipment Safety Stock Inventory
max. 20 pieces
Finished
Goods to FIFO Physical
Customer First-In-First-Out Pull/Withdrawal
Sequence Flow
PUSH
Arrow
24
Information Flow Icons
Manual Electronic
Information Information Signal
Flow Flow Kanban
General Icons
Operator
25
Value-Stream Mapping
Figure 7.5
Process Analysis / Evaluation
Questioning Technique
The questioning technique is the means by
which the critical examination is conducted, each
activity being subjected in turn to a systematic
and progressive series of questions.
PRIMARY QUESTIONS
the PURPOSE for which
the PLACE at which
the SEQUENCE in which
the PERSON by whom
the MEANS by which
ELIMINIATING
COMBINING
With a view to REARRANGING those activities
OR
SIMPLIFING
SECONDARY QUESTIONS
The secondary questions cover the second
stage of the questioning technique, during which
the answers to the primary questions are
subjected to further query to determine whether
possible alternatives of place, sequence,
persons and means are practicable and
preferred as a means of improvement upon the
existing method.
PURPOSE: what is done?
why is it done?
what else might be done?
what should be done?
PLACE: where is it done?
Why is it done there?
Where else might it is done?
Where should it be done?
SEQUENCE: When is it done?
Why is it done?
When might it be done?
When should it be done?
PERSON: who does it?
Why does that person do it?
Who else might do it?
Who should do it?
MEANS: How is it done?
Why is it done that way?
How else might it be done?
How should it be done ?
Tools for Process Mapping
VISIO (MSOFFICE)
Process Maker ([Link])
SmartDraw ([Link])
[Link]
Thank you