Master the meaning of lean terms and concepts. Get clear definitions that turn the language of management into practical results in your day-to-day work.
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Leader of a lean transformation with the authority and initiative to undertake the fundamental changes. The change agent, who often comes from outside the organization, does not need in-depth knowledge of lean philosophy at the start of the transformation.
Compare with: Sensei.
Japanese term for "actual place," usually used for the shop floor or any place where value-creating work takes place. Also spelled with an "n": genba.
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Continuous improvement of an entire value stream or an individual process in order to create more value with less waste. There are two levels of kaizen (Rother and Shook 1999): System or flow kaizen, which focuses on the overall value stream. Led by management.
Process kaizen, which focuses on individual processes. Led by work teams and team leaders.
See : Kaikaku, PDCA, Process Islands, Value Stream Mapping.
A continuing agreement among all the companies sharing the value stream for a product family to correctly specify value from the end customer's point of view, eliminating wasteful actions and making the value-creating activities occur in continuous flow pulled by the customer. The method for conducting the necessary analysis is described in Womack and Jones 2002.
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A five-step thought process proposed by Womack and Jones in 1996 to guide managers through a lean transformation. The principles are: Specify value from the standpoint of the end customer by product family.
Identify all the steps in the value stream for each product family, eliminating, whenever possible, those steps that do not create value.
Make the value-creating steps occur in a continuous sequence so the product will flow smoothly.
As flow is introduced, let customers pull value from the
A support team for a lean transformation, often formed from pre-existing groups in industrial engineering, maintenance, facilities management and quality.
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Toyota executive considered the chief architect of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and author of several important books on TPS.
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When a process delivers pure value, as defined by the customer, without any kind of waste. See : PDCA.
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The son of Sakichi Toyoda, founder of the Toyota group, he led the company's effort to enter the automotive industry in the 1930s. Kiichiro believed it was possible to sustain the entire production process with just the needed stock of products if the preceding process simply responded to the exact needs of the next downstream process. He called this system Just-in-Time, which became one of the two pillars of the Toyota Production System.
See : Toyoda, Sakichi; Toyota Production System.
Founder of the Toyota group, he invented a self-monitoring device for the looms in his factory in the early 20th century that stopped the machines if a thread broke. This innovation allowed one operator to run several machines and led to the concept of Jidoka, which means "automation with human intelligence." It is one of the two pillars of the Toyota Production System.
See : Toyoda, Kiichiro; Toyota Production System.
An organization’s strategic and philosophical vision or purpose.
It is a link that can include "hard" business objectives, such as revenue and profit, as well as visionary goals that appeal to the emotions. (Adapted from Dennis 2007).
Go beyond the introductory reading by listening to debates or watching our transformations on video.
It is a glossary of terms and concepts used in lean management. It helps you understand lean terminology by aligning definitions and examples for study, reading and day-to-day application.
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Ao longo do Vocabulário, você encontrará links para conceitos relacionados e conteúdos do Lean Institute Brasil, como artigos, materiais da Central do Conhecimento, livros e capacitações.
A academia lean do Lean Institute Brasil oferece trilhas de capacitação EaD e presenciais, incluindo o Programa Prático de Formação Lean (PPFL), que ensina a utilizar frameworks consolidados e a aplicá-los resolvendo problemas de negócio reais.
