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MAT 510 – Homework Assignment 1

Assignment 1

This assignment will have you differentiating typical actions and potential modifications to improve activities and assessing the overall impact of those improvement efforts.

Recall a work task, hobby, or other activity that you perform regularly.

1. In a Word document, name the activity and list sequentially the actions you do to complete the activity.

2. Describe the main differences between doing your activity as you perform it regularly and any variations to those steps you would make to improve your activity.

3. Reflect on the complexity of your list and the number of steps needed to complete the activity: Did variation affect your activity? If so, did the variation cause your activity to be easier or more difficult?

Example for Assignment 1

Description of activity: One of my hobbies is cycling. I participate in fund raising events throughout the year. These events require proper cycling attire and resources such as special drinks to help with hydration and special snacks to maintain endurance and eliminate the chances of my bonking during the ride. Below is a description of my steps before and after attempts taken to improve the amount of time each step took.

1. Name of activity: Preparing for Cycling event upon awakening. Below is the list of the actions I did on two consecutive days to see the improvement from doing and improving. On my first attempt, I recorded the steps and time, and once the task was completed, I reviewed it to assess the amount of time and steps that took me to complete it. I noticed that some of the steps took too much time, so the next time I did the same task, I was prepared and improved the amount of time from the previous attempt.

STEP	Time (1st attempt)	Time (2nd attempt)	Difference
Step 1: Finding a matching pair of cycling socks	10 minutes	0 minutes Located matching pair of socks	10-minute reduction
Step 2: Putting on cycling clothes	5 minutes	5 minutes Clothes laid out and ready	0-minutes difference
Step 3: Locating cycling shoes	2 minutes	0 minutes Loaded shoes in equipment bag	2-minute reduction
Step 4: Preparing drinks and snacks for long ride	15 minutes	0 minutes Prepper drinks and snacks day prior – just grab and go	15-minute reduction
Step 5: Packing all needed supplies	2 minutes	0 minutes Packed helmets, gloves, and shoes in bag and placed in car day prior	2-minute reduction
Step 6: Fill bicycle tires with air	18 minutes	0 minutes Prepped bikes day prior and also used maintenance area at the event	18-minute reduction
Step 7: Put Bike rack on the car	5 minutes	0 minutes Loaded bike rack day prior	5-minute reduction
Step 8: Loading bicycles onto bike rack	4 minutes	0 minutes Loaded bikes day prior	4-minute reduction
Step 9: Unloading bicycles and equipment needed during the ride	14 minutes	14 minutes	0-minute change
Step 10: Checking in and getting the riders packet	Varies depending on arrival time. Earlier the faster processed 20 minutes	Varies depending on arrival time. Earlier the faster processed 10 minutes	10-minute reduction
Total time	95 minutes total	29 minutes

2. Describe the main differences between doing your activity as you perform it regularly and any variations to those steps you would make to improve your activity.

According to Hoerl and Snee (2012) the doing activities are represented by the steps the process follows to produce a service or a product as depicted on Figure 1.4. The improving activities are represented by the collection of data as shown on the table above. The first column shows the steps I followed during the cycling preparation, the second column represents the time each step took to be completed, and the third column represents the time it took to complete the same task but with improvements made after analyzing the process and cycle time on the first attempt.

3. Reflect on the complexity of your list and the number of steps needed to complete the activity: Did variation affect your activity? If so, did the variation cause your activity to be easier or more difficult?

Based on the explanation provided by Hoerl and Snee (2012) about reducing variation (standard deviation) and improving the average value, the data collected on the first attempt shows an average of 9.5 minutes and a variation of 6.8 minutes that in comparison with the second attempt the average is 2.9 minutes and the variation is 5.1 minutes. The analysis of these two values reflects that preparing ahead of time the tools needed to get ready for completing the task improved the overall average minimizing the time and the variation as reflected on the second attempt. Indeed, variation affects the productivity in completing the process due to the amount of time wasted when there is a lack of preparation.

Data and Calculations: