Assignment:
EPC Diagram (Individual Assignment)
This assignment is to be completed Individually.
Objective
EPC is an abbreviation for Event-driven Process Chain, and is a flowchart based diagram that can be used for resource planning and identifying possible improvements of a business process. Businesses use event-driven process chain diagrams to lay out business process workflows, originally in conjunction with SAP R/3 modeling, but is now more widely used by many companies for modeling, analyzing, and redesigning business processes. This will be a preliminary exercise before utilizing BPMN 2.0 on the group Project in Assignment 3.
INSTRUCTIONS
In this assignment you will use Signavio, (see the Activity for creating a Signavio account) to prepare an EPC diagram for the Case Study below. Make sure to identify the organizational units and actors relevant to the case study and indicate on the EPC diagram the actor that is responsible for each task in the process.
Case Study
MouldPlast Ltd
MouldPlast is a plastics component subcontractor in the airline and automobile industry. They specialise in products that must meet very high quality standards. The nature of their business requires high standards of production where all processes and procedures are followed,
traceable, and auditable. These requirements are placed on them by their customers, and failure to meet them would be a serious impediment to their business.
You have been called in to document and improve their pre-production procedures. This includes receiving and storage of materials used in manufacturing. When materials first arrive, the receiving clerk confirms the shipment by comparing the shipment to the Purchase orders on file. In most cases, materials can be matched with Purchase orders. On the occasion that they cannot be matched, the relevant Purchasing Officer is urgently notified of the materials to confirm that the materials have not been ordered as in some instances, suppliers substitute alternatives for an order. In the case that the materials have not been ordered, the materials are refused. The receiving clerk then sorts the materials into two categories; perishable and non-perishable and assigns a material number. The materials are then placed in one of the quarantine areas that are appropriate for the type of materials. A ‘Materials in Quarantine' notice is sent to Quality Control for all materials. In the case of perishable materials, a copy is also sent to the Materials Lab. This note lists the name of the material, its location, the quantity, and material number.
On receiving the ‘Materials in Quarantine' notice, Quality Control inspects the materials and determines their suitability and assigns a material number. In some instances, they need to have tests run by the Materials Lab to determine the suitability of the materials, so a Lab
Inspection Request is sent to the Materials Lab. The Lab returns an ‘Inspection Report' to Quality Control commenting on the suitability of the materials. The ‘Lab Inspection Request' notes the tests that need to be performed on the materials.
If the materials fail to meet the required standards, Receiving, Production and Purchasing are advised with an ‘Unsuitable Materials' notice. Receiving attaches a ‘Reject Notice' on the materials and moves them to a reject area for disposal and advises Purchasing of the rejected materials. Purchasing is responsible for determining the procedures for disposal of the material (this may involve returning the materials to the supplier or destruction of them). If Quality Control accepts the materials, a ‘Quarantine Release' note is sent to Receiving. On receiving this note, the goods are moved from the quarantine area to the goods received area. For nonperishable materials, Stores Supervisor is sent a ‘Materials for Storage Advice'.
On receiving this note, a storeman collects the goods and stores them in the appropriate area. In the case of perishable materials, the Materials Lab is advised that the materials are ready for analysis. The Materials Lab then takes a sample and prepares ‘Cooking and Storage Report' which is sent to Production Planning and a copy is also forwarded to Receiving. At this point, Receiving sends the ‘Materials for Storage Advice' for these materials to the Store. The attached ‘Cooking and Storage Report' is used to determine the location for storage. (Several different storage areas are used, some have carefully controlled temperature, humidity or both).