Activities - Lean Six Sigma Glossary

Activities are the building blocks of any process. They are the individual steps or actions that are performed in order to achieve a specific goal. Understanding activities from a process standpoint is crucial for businesses and organizations to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and increase productivity.

Types of Activities

There are two main types of activities: value-adding and non-value adding, in addition to enabling and support activities. Below is the brief description of each of these activity types.

Value-Adding Activities

Value-adding activities are those that directly contribute to the production of a product or service. They add value to the final product or service and are essential to the process. Examples of value-adding activities include manufacturing, marketing, and sales. These activities are closely linked to the process outcome and customer needs.

Non-Value Adding Activities

Non-value adding activities are those that do not directly contribute to the production of a product or service. They do not add value to the final product or service and are not essential to the process. Examples of non-value adding activities include paperwork, meetings, and waiting for materials. These can be seen as waste in the process and can be eliminated or reduced to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Support Activities

Support activities are those that support the value-adding activities. These activities provide the infrastructure and resources needed for the value-adding activities to take place. Examples of support activities include human resources, finance, and logistics. These activities are important for the process as they provide the necessary support for the value-adding activities to happen efficiently.

Enabling Activities

Enabling activities are those that enable the value-adding activities to take place. They provide the necessary tools, equipment, and technology to perform the value-adding activities. Examples include research and development, technology, and design. These activities are important for the process as they enable the value-adding activities to happen effectively.

Functional Activities

Activities can also be viewed from a functional lens, such as marketing, production, and finance. These functional activities can be further divided into sub-categories, such as product development, customer service, and accounting. Broadly, every function will have primary and support activities as described below.

Primary Activities

Primary activities are those that are directly involved in the production and delivery of goods and services. These activities include:

Inbound logistics: activities related to receiving and storing raw materials
Operations: activities related to transforming raw materials into finished goods
Outbound logistics: activities related to distributing and delivering finished goods
Marketing and Sales: activities related to promoting and selling products or services
Service: activities related to providing post-sales service to customers

Support Activities

Support activities are those that support the primary activities. These activities provide the infrastructure and resources needed for the primary activities to take place. These activities include:

Procurement: activities related to purchasing goods and services
Technology development: activities related to researching and developing new technologies
Human resources management: activities related to recruiting, training, and managing employees
Infrastructure: activities related to maintaining and operating the physical and technological infrastructure
Firm infrastructure: activities related to managing and coordinating the various functions of the organization

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Breakdown into smaller tasks

Activities can be further broken down into sub-tasks, or individual steps, that are required to complete a particular task. For example, an activity such as “develop a marketing plan” can be broken down into sub-tasks such as “research the market,” “identify target audience,” and “create a budget.”

Sub-Activities

Sub-activities are a level of breakdown below activities. They are smaller, more specific steps or actions that are performed within an activity. Sub-activities provide a more detailed view of the activity and can be broken down further into tasks.

Tasks

Tasks are the lowest level of breakdown in a process. They are the specific steps or actions that are performed to complete a sub-activity. Tasks are very specific and can be broken down further into sub-tasks.

Sub-Tasks

Sub-tasks are the most detailed level of breakdown in a process. They are the specific steps or actions that are performed to complete a task. Sub-tasks provide the most detailed view of the process and can be used to identify areas for improvement and optimization.

Work Breakdown Structure

A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a tool that is used to break down a project into smaller, more manageable parts. It starts with the main project goal and breaks it down into activities, sub-activities, tasks, and sub-tasks. A WBS provides a clear and detailed view of the project and helps to ensure that all aspects of the project are considered and accounted for.

Best Practices for Designing and Managing Activities in a Process

The process of designing activities can be broken down into several steps, such as identifying the objectives, analyzing the current process, and creating a new process. Once the activities have been designed, it is important to test and evaluate them to ensure that they are achieving their intended results.

Activities should be measurable and trackable. This is important to identify if the activities are delivering results as planned or if they need any adjustments, To measure the performance, metrics such as Cycle Time, Lead Time, Throughput, Value-added time are used.

Activities should also be flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances. This might include updating processes, introducing new technologies or changing the way activities are performed.

When managing activities in a process, it is important to keep the following best practices in mind:

Identify and analyze all activities
Prioritize value-adding activities
Eliminate or minimize non-value adding activities
Continuously monitor and improve activities

It is important to identify and analyze all activities in a process, including both value-adding and non-value adding activities. Value-adding activities should be prioritized, while non-value adding activities should be eliminated or minimized. Regularly monitoring and improving activities can help to ensure that the process is as efficient and effective as possible.

Conclusion

Activities are a fundamental element of any process, providing the steps necessary to achieve a desired outcome. By identifying and analyzing activities, organizations can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a process. By following the best practices outlined in this article, organizations can effectively manage activities in a process to achieve their desired outcomes.

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Sachin Naik

Passionate about improving processes and systems | Lean Six Sigma practitioner, trainer and coach for 14+ years consulting giant corporations and fortune 500 companies on Operational Excellence | Start-up enthusiast | Change Management and Design Thinking student | Love to ride and drive