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

Establish systems to monitor progress towards becoming competitive

1.1

Determine agreed indicators of progress towards desired future state

1.2

Establish contribution to future state indicators by internal and external value stream contributors

1.3

Capture information showing progress towards desired future state

1.4

Analyse information to determine continued progress towards desired future state

1.5

Ensure there are systems which allow monitoring to proceed routinely

2

Identify areas of operations practice to improve in consultation with work teams and other employees

2.1

Identify work teams, areas and value stream members which could be making better progress towards desired future state

2.2

Examine competitive tools being used and their contribution towards progress

2.3

Examine other work practices and their contribution towards progress

2.4

Manage required stakeholder consultations

2.5

Agree on the cause or causes of progress which is not to plan

2.6

Determine appropriate competitive tools use to improve progress

2.7

Develop an implementation plan

3

Facilitate the improvement to operations practice across the organisation

3.1

Obtain support and necessary approvals from process/system owners

3.2

Arrange for the introduction of new tools or modifications to existing tool practice as required

3.3

Arrange for skills and other infrastructure development, as required

3.4

Consult with stakeholders including value stream members about the impact of these changes

3.5

Manage implementation of proposed changes to tools use

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

Required skills 

Required skills include:

• undertaking self-directed problem solving and decision making on issues of a broad and/or highly specialised nature and in highly varied and/or highly specialised contexts
• communicating at all levels in the organisation and value stream and to audiences of different levels of literacy and numeracy
• analysing current state/situation of the organisation and value stream
• overseeing the setting of key performance indicators (KPIs) for future state
• interpreting data and qualitative information gained from benchmarking
• analysing individually and collectively the implementation of competitive systems and practices tools in the organisation and determining strategies for improved implementation
• relating implementation and use of tools to customer benefit
• solving highly varied and highly specialised problems related to competitive systems and practices implementation to root cause
• negotiating with stakeholders, where required, to obtain information required for improvements, including management, unions, value stream members, employees and members of the community
• analysing operational processes in the organisation and value stream and relating to competitive systems and practices tools

Required knowledge 

Required knowledge includes:

• competitive systems and practices at both a strategic and tools level, including advantages and limitations of:

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

• six sigma and lean six sigma
• best practice in implementation of competitive systems and practices tools
• customer benefit as used in competitive systems and practices
• ways of determining competency gaps that may act as restrictions in achieving best practice in operations
• define, measure, analyse, improve and control (DMAIC) process applied to competitive systems and practices tool use
• organisation desired future state in both quantitative and qualitative terms
• how to measure progress towards desired future state
• formal problem solving tools, including root cause analysis (RCA)

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:

• critically examine existing operations and determine correlations to implementation of competitive systems and practices tools
• supervise introduction of new tools or modification of the use of existing tools
• integrate tools with the overall operations strategy and future state.

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

Future state 

Future state may include:

• process reliability
• waste
• health, safety and environment (HSE)
• maintenance
• systems

Codes of practice/standards 

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

HSE 

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

Organisation 

Organisation includes:

• any part of a operations or service organisation
• companies, government bodies or other body of people aiming to produce a product to service a customer

Desired future state 

Desired future state refers to:

• the agreed position of where the organisation wants to be as measured by performance indicators

Progress not to plan 

Progress not to plan includes:

• both progress which falls short of plan and which exceeds plan

Improvements 

Improvements include:

• the use of different or additional tools
• the application of the current tools in use in a different way
• a change of emphasis from ‘tools’ to an accepted part of the organisation’s culture

Manager 

Manager may include:

• any person who may have either a permanent or an ad hoc role in facilitating the function of multiple teams in a workplace, departments or entire organisations

Unit sector

Competitive systems and practices