Continuous Improvement Engineer Mock Interview

Practice 30 Continuous Improvement Engineer interview questions covering Lean, Six Sigma, and process optimization.

Question 19 of 30

How do you use Value Stream Mapping to drive improvement?

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Value Stream Maps are a useful and powerful tool that can be used to understand complex processes and organizations. However, many organizations fall short in their implementation of VSMs. Oftentimes the Value Stream Mapping activity is completed to satisfy a corporate requirement rather than drive meaningful change. This question is less about the candidate's ability to read or create a VSM and more about the candidate's ability to identify impactful improvements based on the information contained in the VSM. The candidate should focus on their practical experience and improve business results using Value Stream Mapping.

Jon Dale

"Once a current state VSM has been created, I will look for constraints and wastes that are evident in the map. Often problem areas can be identified around large inventory accumulations. Once a problem area is identified, I will work to understand what is causing the constraint and then work to implement projects to alleviate the constraint. Always I treat the VSM as a tool to drive cost reduction, rather than a paper exercise to satisfy a requirement."

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30Continuous Improvement Engineer Interview Questions & Answers

1.Why are you interested in the role of Continuous Improvement Engineer?

2.Tell me about a time when you engaged other team-members and utilized their feedback to make an improvement.

3.How do you use structured problem solving to make improvements?

4.When going to a new area, you will be faced with many problems of different types and scopes. How would you decide what to work on first?

5.Please explain your understanding of cause and countermeasure.

6.What is your ideal career path, how does this position fit into your long-term career aspirations?

7.How does the concept of Heijunka apply to day to day operations in a manufacturing setting?

8.What is your experience leading kaizen events?

9.What is Takt Time is, and how it should be utilized to manage a process?

10.If you identify an opportunity to reduce a position (or positions), how do you go about explaining this to the workforce?

11.Why is 5S important in the workplace?

12.Once you identify a potential project, how do you evaluate if it is a worthwhile use of resources?

13.How do you handle feedback?

14.Please explain the importance of a pull-system and how you may go about implementing a pull-system in a new work place.

15.Why is standardized work important?

16.What does kaizen mean to you?

17.How do you handle conflict in the workplace?

18.Are you familiar with the 8 wastes? How do you go about reducing waste in the workplace?

19.How do you use Value Stream Mapping to drive improvement?

20.How do you go about completing a time study on a process you are unfamilair with?

21.How do you go about building rapport with a team that you will be working with?

22.After you have implemented a change to a job, you have a particular team-member who refuses to adhere to the change. How do you handle this?

23.What is your level of understanding of financial statments as they apply to operations?

24.What are your technical abilities outside of CI (CAD, PLCs, Maintenance, etc.)?

25.Please give an example of a large project which you have sucessfully managed.

26.Making changes is a core part of a CI engineer's job function. How do you make sure that the changes you implement don't cause adverse effects on quality or other KPIs?