Activity Sequence-Sensitive
Categories: Accounting, Metrics, Company Management
ASS (the cost accounting term, not the politician) analyzes the order or sequence in which repetitive tasks affect the productivity of what is usually a manufacturing process.
Like...you're building an electric car. You probably want to start with the chassis being put together, then the battery block sets, then maybe the steering or power system, and so on. The last things you'll put on the car are things like paint and tires and windshield wipers, right? So this is an obvious ASS analysis...but subtle changes can affect productivity immensely.
What if the batteries were first mounted onto the primary element bar of the chassis of the car before the chassis was put together? The weight and balance and articulation of the car itself then could be adjusted much closer to fully-in-balance very early in the production stage, saving hours of expensive fine-tuning at the very end of production. In fact, it was elements of ASS that the Japanese car makers in the '80s deployed to kick American ASS. Instead of the American car system, which had 25,000 or more parts in any one car, the Japanese simplified the parts number, shipping many elements with parts already fully welded and consolidated, so that there were only, say, 5,000 parts. Way fewer errors and problems and rattles when the cars were finally fully put together.