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

Identify potential learning opportunities

1.1

Identify formal and informal opportunities for feedback from normal daily activities

1.2

Assess feedback for potential to lead to organisational learning

1.3

Identify opportunities for learning from abnormal events

1.4

Review communications with value stream members for learning opportunities

2

Extract learning from opportunities

2.1

Review information gained from potential learning opportunities for relevance to performance improvement

2.2

Discuss potential for learning with stakeholders

2.3

Confirm additional knowledge/learning

2.4

Confirm methods for institutionalising learning/standardising

3

Capture and disseminate learning

3.1

Identify methods of capturing and disseminating learning

3.2

Obtain required authorisations from appropriate people

3.3

Record learning according to organisation procedures

3.4

Communicate learning to relevant stakeholders

3.5

Ensure all relevant stakeholders are able to access and apply relevant knowledge/learning

4

Review use of learning

4.1

Check learning is used in daily operations

4.2

Review use of learning and update in organisation knowledge system

4.3

Identify implications for training and procedures

4.4

Recommend improvements to organisation knowledge system

4.5

Confirm methods for institutionalising learning/standardising

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

Required skills 

Required skills include:

• undertaking self-directed problem solving and decision-making
• communicating across all levels in an organisation
• preparing reports and recommendations
• identifying and evaluating opportunities for feedback and learning, including:

• tool box and other regular team, section and area meetings
• ad hoc discussions/meetings with team members, sales and marketing employees, other employees, value stream members, regulators and visitors
• interviews with employees and external organisation representatives
• operations records which may include:

• clip boards on the line
• problem solving templates
• procedures templates
• whiteboards or other noticeboards
• computers or terminals that allow access to data bases and other electronic records
• maintenance records

• quality records
• suggestions from employees (e.g. suggestion schemes)
• warranty and other returns
• continuous improvement and breakthrough improvement activities (kaizen and kaizen blitz)
• complaints from customers, employees and members of the community
• equipment downtime/maintenance records

• selecting key information from feedback and learning opportunities and determining value for organisational learning
• analysing performance outside the normal range (good or bad) and assignable cause
• capturing learning through paper-based, electronic or other means (e.g. film and video)
• reviewing the use of learning, including analysing the cause and effect of integrating learning into current or future procedures

Required knowledge 

Required knowledge includes:

• competitive systems and practices tools, 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(KPIs)/metrics
• identification and elimination of waste (muda)

• organisational goals, strategies, operations and processes
• continuous improvement strategies and processes
• communication methods and media for a range of audiences
• root cause analysis
• expected range of performance for operations and products
• types of knowledge capture and retrieval systems and their applicability

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 the ability to:

• recognise, extract and record learning from daily activities
• make and record ongoing additions to the organisation learning systems
• determine best means of communicating learning to stakeholders
• integrate learning with implementation of competitive systems and practices
• establish continuous improvement for the learning system.

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
• 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 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

Codes of practice/standards 

Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, the latest version must be used

Health, safety and environment (HSE) 

All changes implemented are expected to be at least neutral, or preferably beneficial, in their impact on HSE

Opportunities for feedback 

Opportunities for feedback include:

• tool box meetings
• ad hoc discussions/meetings with team members, sales and marketing employees, other employees, value stream members, regulators and visitors
• interviews
• process/production records
• quality records
• plant equipment downtime/maintenance records

Problem recognition and resolution 

Problem recognition and resolution may be expected to include such approaches as:

• stopping operations or part of an operation
• go and see (gemba walk in lean operations)
• team/consensus problem solving
• root cause analysis (RCA)

Learning 

Learning is something which can be passed on and is a recordable event or method which leads to change in work practices and/or process or product performance that is able to be standardised/institutionalised

Record 

Appropriate records include systems which ensure knowledge:

• is not just retained by an individual
• is available to others
• survives beyond the departure of individual
• has an allocated level of importance

Systems for the capture of knowledge 

Systems for the capture of knowledge may be:

• paper-based, electronic or other

They may also require knowledge of method of knowledge entry and retrieval and possibly of searching/filing/cataloguing.

Stakeholders 

Stakeholders may include:

• work team members
• value stream members
• supervisors

Team leader 

Team leader may include:

• any person who may have either a permanent or an ad hoc role in facilitating the function of a team in a workplace

Unit sector

Competitive systems and practices