 |
 |
ABNORMALITY MANAGEMENT — The ability to see and respond to an abnormality (any violation of standard operations) in a timely manner.
ANDON — A visual signal. Typically, a light mounted on a machine or line to indicate a potential problem or work stoppage.
AUTONOMATION — English translation of Jidoka. Imparting human intelligence to a machine so that it automatically stops when a problem arises.
BALANCED PLANT — A plant where all available capacity is balanced exactly to market demand.
BOTTLENECK — An area or workstation in a manufacturing environment that limits throughput of the entire process.
CHAKU-CHAKU LINE — Meaning load-load in Japanese, this describes a work cell where machines off-load parts automatically so that operators can take a piece directly from one machine to the next without waiting.
CHANGE AGENT — A person whose demonstrated mission is to move from the now state, or batch and queue, to the future ideal state: lean manufacturing. One who leads cultural change in an organization.
CELLULAR MANUFACTURING — An alignment of machines in correct process sequence, where operators remain within the cell and materials are presented to them from outside.
CONSTRAINT — A workstation or a process that limits the output of the entire system.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT — The commitment to creating a better product, work environment and business, every day.
CYCLE TIME — The time it takes an operator to complete one full repetition of work. Globally, it is the time it takes before the cycle repeats itself. See Operator Cycle Time, Machine Cycle Time.
3Ds — Dirty, dangerous, difficult.
ELEMENTAL TIME — Time allotted to a specific operational step, within standard work.
EXTERNAL SET-UP — Elements of tooling set-up that can be performed safely while the machine is still running.
FIVE S (5S) — The primary conditioning discipline for kaizen, the five Ss are defined as: Seiri, to segregate and discard. Seiton, to arrange and identify. Seiso, to clean and inspect daily. Seiketsu, to revisit frequently, and Shitsuke, to motivate to sustain.
GLOBAL PRODUCTION SYSTEM — An expansion of the Toyota Production System, this is a strategy to enable lean manufacturing using kaizen methodology.
HANEDASHI — A device that allows a machine to automatically unload a part without waiting for an operator.
HEIJUNKA — Production smoothing; creating a build sequence that is determined by SKU average demand.
INTERNAL SET-UP — Elements of tooling set-up that must be performed while the machine is not in motion.
INVENTORY — Usually the highest cost category, inventory is all raw materials, purchased parts, work-in-progress and finished goods that are not yet sold to a customer.
JIDOKA — See "autonomation." Japanese term for transferring human intelligence to a machine.
JUST IN TIME (JIT) — Manufacturing what is needed, when it is needed, in the quantity it is needed.
KAIKAKU — Radical improvement, usually in a business process, that affects the future value stream.
KAIZEN — A combination of two Japanese words Kai (change) and Zen (good). Usually defined as "continuous improvement."
KAIZEN BREAKTHROUGH — A time-sensitive, rapid-deployment methodology that employs a focused, team-based approach. Continuous improvement.
KANBAN — Visual signal. Typically a re-order card or other method of triggering the pull system, based on actual usage of material. It should be located for use at the point of manufacturing.
LEAD TIME — The amount of time required to produce a single product, from the time of customer order to shipping.
LEAN MANUFACTURING — Using the minimum amount of total resources — man, materials, money, machines, etc. — to produce a product and deliver it on time.
MACHINE AUTOMATIC TIME — The time is takes for a machine to produce one unit, exclusive of loading and unloading.
MACHINE CYCLE TIME — The time it takes for a machine to produce one unit, including the time it takes to load and unload.
MUDA — Any activity that adds to cost without adding to value of the product.
MURA — Variations in process quality, cost and delivery
MURI — Unreasonableness; demand exceeds capacity.
NAGARA SYSTEM — Accomplishing two or more activities with one motion.
NON-VALUE ADDED — Any activity that adds cost without adding value to the product or process.
ONE-TOUCH EXCHANGE OF DIES — The reduction of die set-up activities down to a single step.
ONE-PIECE FLOW — A manufacturing philosophy which supports the movement of product from one workstation to the next, one piece at a time, without allowing inventory to build up in between.
OPERATOR CYCLE TIME — The time it takes for a person to complete a predetermined sequence of operations, inclusive of loading and unloading, exclusive of time spent waiting.
PACEMAKER — A technique for pacing a process to takt time.
POLICY DEPLOYMENT — Matching the strategic business goals of an organization to its available resources. Communicating those goals throughout the organization and linking everyone to the same objectives.
POKA YOKE — A Japanese word for mistake proofing, a poka yoke device prevents a human error from affecting a machine or process; prevents operator mistakes from becoming defects.
POINT KAIZEN — An improvement activity intensely directed at a single workstation, performed quickly by two or three specialists. Typically follows a full-blown kaizen event.
PROCESS CAPACITY TABLE — A chart primarily used in a machining environment that compares machine load to available capacity.
PRODUCTION SMOOTHING — A method of production scheduling that, over a period of time, takes the fluctuation of customer demand out of manufacturing. Producing every part, every day.
QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT — A methodology in which a cross-functional team reaches consensus about final product specifications, in accord with the wishes of the customer.
SENSI — A revered master or teacher.
SET-UP REDUCTION — Reducing the amount of downtime during changeover from the last good piece to the first good piece of the next order.
SINGLE-MINUTE EXCHANGE OF DIES (SMED) — From the last good part to the first good part on the new set-up accomplished in anything less than 10 minutes. AKA "Single-digit set-up."
STANDARD OPERATIONS — The best combination of people and machines utilizing the minimum amount of labor, space, inventory and equipment.
STANDARD WORK — Pre-determined sequence of tasks for the operator to complete within takt time.
STANDARD WORK COMBINATION SHEET — A document showing the sequence of production steps assigned to a single operator. It is used to illustrate the best combination of worker and machine.
STANDARD WORK LAYOUT — A diagram of a work station or cell showing how standard work is accomplished.
STANDARD WORK IN PROCESS — Minimum material required to complete one cycle of operator work without delay.
STOP-THE-LINE AUTHORITY — When abnormalities occur, workers have power to stop the process and prevent the defect or variation from being passed along.
SUB-OPTIMIZATION — Optimizing each piece of equipment; keeping all machines running, no matter the cost or consequence. Typically this inflates the number-one cost of production: material.
SUPERMARKET — A shop floor, line-side location where parts are sorted and made ready for presentation to operators.
TAKT TIME — The total net daily operating time divided by the total daily customer demand.
THROUGHPUT — The rate at which the entire system generates money.
TIME-BASED STRATEGY — Organizing business objectives around economy-of-time principles.
TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM — Based on some of the first principles of Henry Ford, this describes the philosophies of one of the world’s most successful companies. The foundation of TPS is production smoothing, the supports are just-in-time and jidoka.
VALUE ADDED — Any activity that transforms a product or service to meet the customer need.
VALUE ANALYSIS — Evaluating the total lead-time and value-added time to identify the percentage spent in value added activities.
VALUE STREAM MAP (or Value Chain Map) — A visual picture of how material and information flows from suppliers, through manufacturing, to the customer. It includes calculations of total cycle time and value-added time. Typically written for the current state of the value chain and the future, to indicate where the business is going.
VISUAL CONTROLS — Creating standards in the workplace that make it obvious if anything is out of order.
VISUAL MANAGEMENT — System enabling anyone to quickly spot abnormalities in the workplace, regardless of their knowledge of the process.
WORK-IN-PROCESS (WIP) — Inventory waiting between operation steps.
WORK SEQUENCE — The correct steps the operator takes, in the order in which they should be taken.