Lean Process Glossary & Terms

ANDON                                 

Andon is a visual production-control device (usually a lighted overhead display) that continuously shows changing status of the production line and sounds alerts if a problem is imminent

5 (Five) S                                          

5S is a methodology for organizing, cleaning, developing, and sustaining a productive work environment. Improved safety, ownership of workspace, improved productivity and improved maintenance are some of the benefits of 5S program

ERROR PROOFING                

Error proofing is a structured approach to ensure quality and error-free manufacturing environments. Error proofing assures that defects will never be passed to the next operation

INVENTORY TURNOVER RATE

Inventory Turnover Rate is the number of times an inventory cycles or turns over during the year. A frequently used method to compute inventory turnover is to divide the average inventory level into an annual cost of sales

HEIJUNKA                              

Heijunka or “level production” is a technique of achieving even output flow by coordinated sequencing of very small production batches throughout the manufacturing line in a lean production or just in time (JIT) system

JIDOKA                                   

Jidoka or “Automation with a human touch” being able to stop production lines, either manually by human intervention or mechanically if there is a problem like an equipment malfunction, or quality issues, or work that is delayed for whatever reason

JUST IN TIME (JIT)                 

JIT is a philosophy of manufacturing based on the planned elimination of all waste and continuous improvement of productivity. It encompasses the successful execution of all manufacturing activities required to produce a final product

KAIZEN                                  

Kaizen is the Japanese term for improvement; continuing improvement involving everyone – managers and workers. In manufacturing, kaizen relates to finding and eliminating waste in machinery, labor, or production methods

KANBAN                                

Kanban is a simple parts-movement system that depends on cards and boxes/containers to take parts from one workstation to another on a production line. The essence of the Kanban concept is that a supplier or the warehouse should only deliver components to the production line as and when they are needed so that there is no storage in the production area

LEAN METRICS                      

Lean Metrics allows companies to measure, evaluate and respond to their performance in a balanced way, without sacrificing the quality to meet quantity objectives or increasing inventory levels to achieve machine efficiencies. The type of the lean metric depends on the organization and can be of the following categories; Financial performance, behavioral performance, and core process performance

LEAN PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (LPI)
LPI is a consistent method to measure lean implementation effectiveness. INDICATORS.  Real-Time Performance, Continuous Improvement Implementation, Lean Sustain, Waste Elimination and Profitability

LAYOUT DESIGN / CELL DESIGNLayout Design is the organization of a production or service facility so that items having similar processing requirements are grouped together

MISTAKE PROOFING (POKA YOKA)Poka Yoka is an approach to ‘mistake proofing’ in all aspects of manufacturing, customer service, procurement, etc. It employs visual signals that make mistakes clearly stand out from the rest or devices that stop an assembly line or process if a part or step is missed. Its older name is poka-yoke (foolproofing)

MUDA

MUDA is a Japanese term for waste

MURA

MURA is a Japanese term for Unevenness

MURI

MURI is a Japanese term for OverburdenLean process glossary continues …

ONE-PIECE FLOW                  

One-piece flow or continuous flow processing is a concept means that items are processed and moved directly from one processing step to the next, one piece at a time. One-piece flow helps to maximum utilization of resources, shorten lead times, identify problems and communication between operations

OVERALL EQUIPMENT EFFECTIVENESS (OEE)OEE measures the availability, performance efficiency, and quality rate of equipment – it is especially important to calculate OEE for the constrained operations

PREREQUISITE TREE             

A prerequisite tree Is a logical structure designed to identify all obstacles and the responses needed to overcome them in realizing an objective. It identifies minimum necessary conditions without which the objective cannot be met

PROCESS ROUTE TABLE       

Process Route Table shows what machines and equipment are needed for processing a component or assembly. These tables aid in creating ordinary lines and grouping workpieces into work cells

QUICK CHANGEOVER           

Quick Changeover or SMED is a technique to analyze and reduce resources needed for equipment setup, including the exchange of tools and dies. Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) is an approach to reduce output and quality losses due to changeovers

STANDARD WORK               

Standard work is the length of time that should be required to set up a given machine or operation and run one part, assembly, batch, or end product through that operation. This time is used in determining machine requirements and labor requirements

SPAGHETTI DIAGRAM
A Spaghetti Diagram Shows the movement of material, identifying areas of waste. Aids teams to plan future improvements, such as one-piece flow and work cells

TAKT TIME                               

Takt Time is the time required between the completion of successive units of the end product. Tact time is used to pacelines in the production environments lean process glossary continues …

TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MAINTENANCE (TPM)

TPM is a maintenance program concept, which brings maintenance into focus in order to minimize downtimes and maximize equipment usage. The goal of TPM is to avoid emergency repairs and keep unscheduled maintenance to a minimum

TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM (TPS)

TPS is a technology of comprehensive production management. The basic idea of this system is to maintain a continuous flow of products in factories in order to flexibly adapt to demand changes. The realization of such production flow is called Just-in-time production, which means producing only necessary units in a necessary quantity at a necessary time. As a result, the excess inventories and the excess workforce will be naturally diminished, thereby achieving the purposes of increased productivity and cost reduction

TRANSITION TREE                 

A transition Tree Is a cause and effect logic tree designed to provide step-by-step progress from initiation to completion of a course of action or change. It is an implementation tool

VALUE-ADDED (NV) AND NON VALUE ADDED (NVA)

VA & NVA Lead time ratio Provides insight on how many value-added activities are performed compared to non-value-added activities, using time as a unit of measure

VALUE STREAM MAPPING (VSM)

VSM is a graphical tool that helps you to see and understand the flow of the material and information as a product makes its way through the value stream. It ties together lean concepts and techniques

VISUAL MANAGEMENT        

Visual Management is a set of techniques that makes operation standards visible so that workers can follow them more easily. These techniques expose waste so that it can be prevented and eliminated

8 (Eight) WASTES:                            

Eight Wastes are Transport; Inventory; Motion; Waiting; Overproduction; Over-processing; Defects; Human Intellect. Additional wastes are Energy; Pollution; SpaceThe Lean process glossary.