Unit of competency details

Elements describe the essential outcomes of a unit of competency.

Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. Where bold italicised text is used, further information is detailed in the required skills and knowledge section and the range statement. Assessment of performance is to be consistent with the evidence guide.

1

Contribute to the improvement of the operations system in team or work area

1.1

Identify key performance indicators for area of operations

1.2

Implement and review competitive systems and practices to improve health, safety and environment (HSE) performance of self and others

1.3

Implement and review competitive systems and practices to maximise quality consistency

1.4

Implement and review competitive systems and practices and identify any skill and training issues that need to be addressed to improve capability of self and others

1.5

Implement and review competitive systems and practices to maximise customer benefit/cost ratio

1.6

Implement and review competitive systems and practices to reduce lead time to delivery within the scope of authority and responsibility

1.7

Work with relevant stakeholders to resolve conflicts which arise from implementation of competitive systems and practices

1.8

Select improvements which will deliver the greatest overall benefit for the resources required/available without reducing current performance on individual factors

2

Implement improvements

2.1

Implement the chosen improvement/s

2.2

Check the selected improvements improve the system as a whole and do not result in unintended consequences

2.3

Monitor implementation and make adjustments, as required

This section describes the skills and knowledge required for this unit.

Required skills 

Required skills include:

• communicating with others to clarify scope of implementation of competitive systems and practices, including:

• value stream mapping
• 5S
• Just in Time (JIT)
• mistake proofing
• process mapping
• establishing customer pull
• kaizen and kaizen blitz
• setting of key performance indicators/metrics
• identification and elimination of waste (muda)

• monitoring performance in key areas, including:

• HSE performance
• quality consistency
• capability and performance by team members
• customer benefit/cost ratio
• reduce lead time to delivery

• contributing suggestions for improvement
• analysing operational procedures in terms of flow and contribution to customer outcomes
• planning tasks to support competitive systems and practices implementation
• identifying and implementing appropriate data gathering and analysis techniques within area of responsibility to identify change over time in indicators relating to:

• cost
• quality
• delivery
• safety/environment
• employee capability and support for competitive systems and practices

• solving problems to root causes

Required knowledge 

Required knowledge includes:

• customers and the value they derive from products and processes of the organisation or area
• cost components and their relationship to customer benefits/features
• suppliers and their capabilities
• waste (muda)
• factors causing variability in a product and how to control them
• factors that promote standardisation
• relevant competitive systems and practices tools for area and how to apply them
• factors impacting on the product, process and waste, particularly those wholly or partially under own and other immediate area employees control (and how to control them)
• good HSE practice and factors impacting on HSE performance
• own capability and how to improve it
• optimisation techniques appropriate to the organisation and the job
• application of quality standards and processes

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit 

A person who demonstrates competency in this unit must be able to provide evidence of their ability to:

• identify key performance indicators appropriate to their own work area
• implement and review competitive systems and practices in own work, including interaction with others in the work area in the areas of:

• HSE performance
• quality consistency
• capability and performance by team members
• customer benefit/cost ratio
• reduce lead time to delivery

• select improvements that deliver the greatest overall benefit
• monitor the implementation of improvements and make appropriate adjustments.

Context of and specific resources for assessment 

Assessment of performance must be undertaken in a workplace using or implementing one or more competitive systems and practices.

Access may be required to:

• workplace procedures and plans relevant to work area
• specifications and documentation relating to planned, currently being implemented, or implemented changes to work processes and procedures relevant to the assessee
• documentation and information in relation to production, waste, overheads and hazard control/management
• reports from supervisors/managers
• case studies and scenarios to assess responses to contingencies.

Method of assessment 

A holistic approach should be taken to the assessment.

Competence in this unit may be assessed by using a combination of the following to generate evidence:

• demonstration in the workplace
• workplace projects
• suitable simulation
• case studies/scenarios (particularly for assessment of contingencies, improvement scenarios, and so on)
• targeted questioning for appropriate portions
• reports from supervisors, peers and colleagues (third-party reports)
• portfolio of evidence

In all cases it is expected that practical assessment will be combined with targeted questioning to assess underpinning knowledge.

Where applicable, reasonable adjustment must be made to work environments and training situations to accommodate ethnicity, age, gender, demographics and disability.

Guidance information for assessment 

Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate and appropriate to the oracy, language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Competitive systems and practices 

Competitive systems and practices may include, but are not limited to:

• lean operations
• agile operations
• preventative and predictive maintenance approaches
• monitoring and data gathering systems, such as Systems Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Materials Resource Planning (MRP) and proprietary systems
• statistical process control systems, including six sigma and three sigma
• JIT, kanban and other pull-related operations control systems
• supply, value, and demand chain monitoring and analysis
• 5S
• continuous improvement (kaizen)
• breakthrough improvement (kaizen blitz)
• cause/effect diagrams
• overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)
• takt time
• process mapping
• problem solving
• run charts
• standard procedures
• current reality tree

Competitive systems and practices should be interpreted so as to take into account:

• the stage of implementation of competitive systems and practices
• the size of the enterprise
• the work organisation, culture, regulatory environment and the industry sector

Competitive systems and practices tools 

Competitive systems and practices tools include:

• 5S
• 6 sigma
• continuous improvement
• cause effect diagrams

Customer 

Competitive systems and practices organisations encompass the entire production system, beginning with the customer, and includes:

• the product sales outlet
• the final assembler
• product design
• raw material mining and processing
• all tiers of the value stream (sometimes called the supply chain)

Customer may include:

• internal or external customers, and should also include the final customer as the basis for the identification of waste

The unit does not require interfacing directly with the external customer, but there should be sufficient information to identify customer benefits and features

Supplier 

Supplier may include:

• an internal supplier
• an external supplier

The unit does not require interfacing directly with external suppliers, but there should be sufficient information to enable identification of supplier abilities

Waste 

Waste (also known as muda in the Toyota Production System and its derivatives) is any activity which does not contribute to customer benefit/features in the product. Categories of waste include:

• excess production and early production
• delays
• movement and transport
• poor process design
• inventory
• inefficient performance of a process
• making defective items
• other activities which do not yield any benefit to the organisation or any benefit to the organisations customers

Operations 

Operations indicate:

• the holistic combination of the process, plant and equipment, procedures and practices, including the skills and work organisation of the workforce, which make up the productive organisation

Implement improvements 

Implementation of improvements may be undertaken:

• within own job role
• as part of processes and operations in the work area or team

Unit sector

Competitive systems and practices