Elements and Performance Criteria

All Elements may be undertaken individually or as part of a team and may require assistance from the team leader for areas outside the employee's range of responsibility and authority.

Competitive manufacturing is used to describe the range of systemic manufacturing practice concepts and approaches. It covers but is not limited to:
lean manufacturing
agile manufacturing
preventative and predictive maintenance approaches
monitoring and data gathering systems such as Systems Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP), and proprietary systems such as SAP
statistical process control systems including six sigma and three sigma
Just In Time (JIT), kanban and other pull related manufacturing control systems
supply, value, and demand chain monitoring and analysis
other continuous improvement systems.
Competitive manufacturing should be interpreted so as to take into account the stage of implementation of competitive manufacturing approaches, the enterprise's size and work organisation, culture, regulatory environment and manufacturing sector.

Procedures include all work instructions, standard operating procedures, formulas/recipes, batch sheets, temporary instructions and similar instructions provided for the smooth running of the plant. They may be written, verbal, computer based or in some other form.
For the purposes of this Training Package, 'procedures' also includes good operating practice as may be defined by industry codes of practice (eg Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Responsible Care) and government regulations.

Continuous improvement (also called kaizen) - the philosophy of continual improvement, that every process can and should be continually evaluated and improved in terms of time required, resources used, resultant quality, and other aspects relevant to the process.

Competitive manufacturing organisations encompass the entire production system, beginning with the customer, and includes the product sales outlet, the final assembler, product design, raw material mining and processing and all tiers of the value chain (sometimes called the supply chain). Any truly 'competitive' system is highly dependent on the demands of its customers and the reliability of its suppliers. No implementation of competitive manufacturing can reach its full potential without including the entire 'enterprise' in its planning.

Overview of assessment requirements
The employee will respond readily to each initiative, making its implementation easier and recommending improvements.

What critical aspects of evidence are required to demonstrate competency in this unit?
Evidence of commitment to a range of initiatives should be available.

What are the specific resource requirements for this unit?
Access to an organisation using competitive manufacturing.

In what context should assessment occur?
Assessment will need to occur in a workplace following competitive manufacturing.

Are there any other units which could or should be assessed with this unit or which relate directly to this unit?
This unit may be assessed concurrently with any other relevant unit which relates to making a change in the workplace.

What method of assessment should apply?
Assessors must be satisfied that the person can consistently perform the unit as a whole, as defined by the Elements, Performance Criteria, skills and knowledge. A holistic approach should be taken to the assessment.
Assessors should gather sufficient, fair, valid, reliable, authentic and current evidence from a range of sources. Sources of evidence may include direct observation, reports from supervisors, peers and colleagues, project work, samples, organisation records and questioning. Assessment should not require language, literacy or numeracy skills beyond those required for the unit.
The assessee will have access to all techniques, procedures, information, resources and aids which would normally be available in the workplace.
The method of assessment should be discussed and agreed with the assessee prior to the commencement of the assessment.

What evidence is required for demonstration of consistent performance?
If evidence is provided from an initial move to competitive manufacturing, then sufficient evidence may come from this initial adjustment. Where evidence is provided from a series of improvements, then it will need to be gathered from a range of initiatives to provide sufficient evidence.