This note describes an exercise that uses a publicly available educational catapult to cover topics in continuous process improvement and Lean initiatives. The exercise is highly flexible and adaptable, and is appropriate for students in an undergraduate or graduate operations management class as well as in a wide variety of executive education settings, including on-site workshops for corporate education.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe a process using process behavior charts. 2. Understand how to establish and interpret process capability measures. 3. Practice the A3 problem-solving process as a team. 4. Using the kata/PDCA method as part of the A3 problem-solving process. 5. Discuss the benefits of standard work and SOPs. 6. Present an overview of training within industry (TWI) and explaining how standardized training is an integral part of actualizing any continuous process-improvement strategy.