SCO 3001 – Supply Chain and Operations Management | University of Minnesota | Complete
Course Study Material with Q&A
Principles of Flowcharts 1. Identify and select a relevant transformation process (or system)
to study
2. Identify an individual or a team of individuals to be responsible for developing the flowchart
and for subsequent analyses: individual/team should have some familiarity with the
transformation process and should have Process Ownership
3. Specify the boundaries of the transformation process
4. Identify and sequence the operational steps or the activities necessary to complete the
output for the customers
5. Identify the performance metrics for the operational steps or the activities within the
selected transformation process
6. Draw the flowchart, defining and using symbols in a consistent manner
Process Ownership Authority for initiating and/or implementing changes to the selected
transformation process
Process Analytics uses measures of transformation to yield insights into the structure and
performance of a transformation process
Little's Law shows that the average number of items in a system (I) is the product of the
average arrival rate to the system (R) and the average time an item stays in the system (T)
I=TxR
- law applies to any steady-state transformation process; useful when any two of the three
variables in the formula are known
Throughput time (T) the time from when the processing begins until the product or service
is completely finished
,Capacity the maximum rate of output from a transformation process or the maximum flow
rate that can be sustained over a period of time
Capacity = Minimum (capacity fo resource 1, ... , capacity of resource n)
Flow rate Flow rate = Minimum (supply, demand, capacity)
Bottleneck capacity of the entire process cannot be greater than the capacity of the most
constraining (the smallest capacity) resource
Process Redesign starts with identifying critical processes required to meet the customers'
needs, then the critical processes are analyzed in detail; changes are often made to these
processes as a result of the insight from process-flow analysis, as a result business processes
are redesigned and integrated to better serve the customer
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) the analysis and redesign of workflow within and
between enterprises
Radical Redesign when processes simply cannot be improved in small steps and require a
complete redesign to improve them in a major way
- often supported by new technology
Radical Redesign Requires 4 Principles: 1. Organize around outcomes, not tasks
2. Have the people who do the work process their own information
3. Put the decision point where the work is performed , and build control into the process
4. Eliminate unnecessary steps in the process
, Terminator Symbol an oval shape
- depicts both the start and end of the flowchart
Process Symbol a rectangular box
- an operational step or activity to be performed
Decision or Evaluation Symbol a diamond shape
- the meaning of the outcome needs to be clearly labelled
- used when there are two or more path that an activity can be
Flow Symbol depicted as an arrow
- indicates the direction of work
- can be for either materials or information
Lean Production a management approach that organizes resources such as people and
machines around the flow of business processes and that only produces units in response to
customer orders
Lean Thinking a management philosophy and strategy focused on creating value for the
customer by eliminating waste
1st Tenet in Lean Thinking Specify precisely what about a product or service creates value
form the customer's perspective
Waste anything that does not contribute value to the product or service being produced and
delivered to the customer; adds costs that are greater than the customer perceived value
("Muda")
Course Study Material with Q&A
Principles of Flowcharts 1. Identify and select a relevant transformation process (or system)
to study
2. Identify an individual or a team of individuals to be responsible for developing the flowchart
and for subsequent analyses: individual/team should have some familiarity with the
transformation process and should have Process Ownership
3. Specify the boundaries of the transformation process
4. Identify and sequence the operational steps or the activities necessary to complete the
output for the customers
5. Identify the performance metrics for the operational steps or the activities within the
selected transformation process
6. Draw the flowchart, defining and using symbols in a consistent manner
Process Ownership Authority for initiating and/or implementing changes to the selected
transformation process
Process Analytics uses measures of transformation to yield insights into the structure and
performance of a transformation process
Little's Law shows that the average number of items in a system (I) is the product of the
average arrival rate to the system (R) and the average time an item stays in the system (T)
I=TxR
- law applies to any steady-state transformation process; useful when any two of the three
variables in the formula are known
Throughput time (T) the time from when the processing begins until the product or service
is completely finished
,Capacity the maximum rate of output from a transformation process or the maximum flow
rate that can be sustained over a period of time
Capacity = Minimum (capacity fo resource 1, ... , capacity of resource n)
Flow rate Flow rate = Minimum (supply, demand, capacity)
Bottleneck capacity of the entire process cannot be greater than the capacity of the most
constraining (the smallest capacity) resource
Process Redesign starts with identifying critical processes required to meet the customers'
needs, then the critical processes are analyzed in detail; changes are often made to these
processes as a result of the insight from process-flow analysis, as a result business processes
are redesigned and integrated to better serve the customer
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) the analysis and redesign of workflow within and
between enterprises
Radical Redesign when processes simply cannot be improved in small steps and require a
complete redesign to improve them in a major way
- often supported by new technology
Radical Redesign Requires 4 Principles: 1. Organize around outcomes, not tasks
2. Have the people who do the work process their own information
3. Put the decision point where the work is performed , and build control into the process
4. Eliminate unnecessary steps in the process
, Terminator Symbol an oval shape
- depicts both the start and end of the flowchart
Process Symbol a rectangular box
- an operational step or activity to be performed
Decision or Evaluation Symbol a diamond shape
- the meaning of the outcome needs to be clearly labelled
- used when there are two or more path that an activity can be
Flow Symbol depicted as an arrow
- indicates the direction of work
- can be for either materials or information
Lean Production a management approach that organizes resources such as people and
machines around the flow of business processes and that only produces units in response to
customer orders
Lean Thinking a management philosophy and strategy focused on creating value for the
customer by eliminating waste
1st Tenet in Lean Thinking Specify precisely what about a product or service creates value
form the customer's perspective
Waste anything that does not contribute value to the product or service being produced and
delivered to the customer; adds costs that are greater than the customer perceived value
("Muda")
