Lexicon Term
Kaikaku
Radical, revolutionary improvement of a value stream to quickly create more value with less waste; sometimes called kakushin. One example would be moving equipment over…
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Lean Enterprise
A continuing agreement among all the firms sharing the value stream for a product family to correctly specify value from the standpoint of the end…
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Lean Management Accounting
Sometimes called Lean Accounting, it refers to the restructuring of management accounting and controls to accurately report the results of improvements that are continuously being…
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Lean Product and Process Development
A business system focused on eliminating waste in product and process development by generating and applying useable knowledge. It is centered on four core concepts:
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Milk Run
A method to speed the flow of materials between facilities by routing vehicles to make multiple pick-ups and drop-offs at many facilities. By making frequent…
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Multiprocess Handling
The work practice of assigning operators to operate more than one process in a product-flow oriented layout. Requires training operators to operate different types of…
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Operator Balance Chart
A graphic tool that assists the creation of continuous flow in a multistep, multioperator process by distributing operator work elements in relation to takt time.…
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Out-of-Cycle Work
Tasks of operators in multioperator processes which require the operator to break the pace of work or leave the area. Examples include retrieving parts from…
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Paced Withdrawal
The practice of releasing production instructions to work areas and withdrawing completed product from work areas at a fixed, frequent pace. This practice can be…
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Pacemaker Process
Any process along a value stream that sets the pace for the entire stream. (The pacemaker process should not be confused with a bottleneck process,…
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Process Village
A grouping of activities by type rather than in the sequence needed to design or make a product. Historically, most organizations created process villages for…
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Production Control
The task of controlling and pacing production so that products flow smoothly and quickly to meet customer requirements. At Toyota, the production control department evolved…
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Push Production
Processing large batches of items at a maximum rate, based on forecasted demand, then moving them to the next downstream process or into storage, regardless…
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Right-Sized Tools
Process equipment that is highly capable, easy to maintain (and therefore available to produce whenever needed), quick to changeover, easy to move, and designed to…
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7 Wastes
The 7 wastes are Taiichi Ohno’s categorization of the seven major wastes typically found in mass production: Overproduction: Producing ahead of what’s actually needed by…
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Strategy Deployment
A management process that aligns—both vertically and horizontally —an organization’s functions and activities with its strategic objectives. A specific plan—typically annual—is developed with precise goals,…
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Theory of Constraints
A management philosophy and a set of tools for organizational change developed by Israeli physicist Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt and popularized in the 1984 book The…
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Value-Stream Manager
An individual assigned clear responsibility for the success of a value stream. The value stream may be defined on the product or business level (including…
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Work Element
The distinct steps required to complete one cycle at a workstation; the smallest increment of work that can be moved to another operator. Breaking work…
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Don't 'waste' the value-stream mapping process by ignoring the customer.
LEI CEO John Shook explains to IndustryWeek the origins of value-stream mapping and how companies miss its full benefits by not giving full attention to…
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