The Value Analysis of General Electric - Coursework Example

The goal of General Electric is to eliminate the non-value parameters by re-engineering the process or product’s design. Equally important, the company considers substituting the functional equivalent elements for the value-added of the process design. Consequently, the substitution is justified when the element’s functionality is enhanced or reduced at a minimized expense to the manufacturer (“General Electric”, 2014). The Value Analysis applies to the redesign of the processes, services, and products. In product design, the bill of materials for products offers the necessary component list. In the service delivery and production process, the individual tasks carried out to attain the final objective tend to be sufficient, the process or product’s element is pointed out and then classified. The company then operationally defines the value within the framework that is established by the process or product under analysis. Using the definition each function is put under analysis to find out if it adds value or not. The figure below shows the value stream map.

The Value added activities include the patient’s willingness to pay for the products and services, activities that change the function, fit, or form of the service, and are performed for the first time. The non-added activities include the process of unloading a truck.

The variation of General Electric comes when their client notices a difference from a single item to the other, and the difference in processes. Six sigma is meant to minimize the variation for repeatable results. The figure below shows the reduced variation and center process where the clients feel the difference in processes above the mean. The elements of waste include transportation and motion, overproduction, waiting for time and inventory, and over-processing and defects. There is waste in transportation and motion due to lower productivity, longer lead times, and possible part damage. The waste is related to badly designed processes, poor housekeeping, and sharing of equipment. Overproduction is a waste for General Electric because of high defects and shortages, difficulty in identifying the cause of problems and consuming raw material ahead of necessaries. Processing is a waste because it consumes resources, increases the time of production, reduces the returns on the employed resources, and increases the product cost.

We started with the analysis of the cause and effect analysis in finding out the causes that give an impact on the projects that are carried out at General Electric. The activities were conducted using the Cause and Effect Diagram to come up with a matrix. The performance trend before the improvement is shown below.

Analysis was done for every problem. The validation processes were selected and then verified. The activities made sure that the causes were broken down into explicit elements therefore obtaining the absolute and correct causes for improvement than implementing the actions helped. The table below provides an overview of the why analysis.