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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A mass-production approach to operations in which large lots of parts are processed and moved to the next process, regardless of actual need, where they wait in a queue. See : Continuous Flow, Lean Production, Overproduction, Push Production.
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A location where the processing steps for a given item take place immediately one after another, so that parts, documents, etc. can move in a flow very close to continuous, whether one unit at a time or in small batches, maintained throughout the complete processing sequence.
See: Continuous Flow, Operator Balance Chart, Standardized Work.
A method of conducting one-piece flow in a cell in which the machines unload parts automatically, so that the operator (or operators) can carry a part directly from one machine to the next without stopping to unload it, thereby saving time and motion.
See : Cell, Continuous Flow.
Producing and moving one item at a time (or a small batch of items) through a series of processing steps as continuously as possible, with each step making just what is requested by the next step.
See : One-Piece Flow, Batch and Queue, Flow Production.
A facility that selects and (re)combines a variety of items coming from various suppliers so that they can be shipped to the various customers, such as assembly plants, distributors or dealers.
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The time required to produce a part or complete a process, as actually measured.
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The principle and practice of maintaining precision in the sequence of production and material movement, ensuring that the first part to enter a process or storage location is also the first part to exit. This ensures that stored parts do not become obsolete and that quality problems are not hidden in inventory. FIFO is a necessary condition for implementing a pull system.
See: Kanban, Pull Production
A production system introduced by Henry Ford at the Highland Park plant in Michigan in 1913. The aim of flow production was to drastically reduce product throughput time and human effort through a series of innovations. See : Continuous Flow.
Compare with : Mass Production.
A supply chain that incorporates lean principles and, consequently, operates collaboratively and smoothly in flow, instead of operating as a group of related connections.
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Leveling the type and quantity of production over a fixed period of time. This enables production to efficiently meet customer demands while avoiding excess inventory and reducing costs, labor, and production lead time throughout the value stream.
See : Demand Amplification, Every Part Every Interval (EPEx), Just-in-Time (JIT), Muda, Mura, Muri, Single-Minute Exchange of Die - SMED.
A production system that makes and delivers only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed. JIT and Jidoka are the two pillars of the Toyota Production System. JIT relies on heijunka and is made up of three operating elements: the pull system, takt time, and continuous flow.
See : Continuous Flow, Heijunka, Jidoka, Pull Production, Takt Time, Toyota Production System.
Lean logistics focuses on logistics activities and their connections, using the pull system and continuous flow to put the lean supply chain into practice. See : Cross-docking, heijunka, supply chain
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A business system for organizing and managing product development, operations, suppliers, and customer relations. Compared with mass production, lean production requires less human effort, less space, less capital, and less time to make products with fewer defects to precise customer desires. See : Toyota Production System.
Compare with : Mass Production.
See: Heijunka.
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A business system developed in the early 20th century to organize and manage product development, production operations, purchasing, and customer relations. See : Batch and Queue.
Compare with : Lean Production.
The movement of physical items along the value stream. In mass production, products travel to centralized processes in large batches, pushed by instructions from a master schedule. In lean production, the process steps for different product families are carried out, whenever possible, in a tightly defined sequence of processes, so that small quantities of product can flow directly from step to step, pulled by the next downstream process and by the end customer.
See : Information Flow, Just-in-Time (JIT), Lean Production, Mass Production.
The movement of the necessary materials along a production process within a plant. In the lean production system, material handling goes far beyond the simple delivery of materials. A lean material handling system can serve as a means of conveying instructions to production. See: Heijunka Box, Paced Withdrawal.
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A method for speeding the flow of materials between plants, in which vehicles follow a route to make multiple pickups and deliveries at many plants. See : Lean Logistics, Material Handling.
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Any design, schedule or production technology with large-scale requirements and long changeover times, requiring that designs, orders or products be brought to it and wait in a queue for processing. See: Capital Linearity, Right-Sized Tools.
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A work practice in which operators run more than one machine in a layout of process islands. It requires separating human work from machine work and is normally made easier by applying jidoka and auto-eject devices on the machines.
See: Jidoka, Multi-Process Handling.
A work practice in which operators work on more than one process in a layout oriented to the flow of products. It requires training operators to handle different types of machines (e.g., cutter, polisher, tester, etc.) so that they can move products through the cellularized operations.
See: Multi-Machine Handling.
Making and moving one piece at a time. See : Continuous Flow, Every Product Every Interval (EPEx), Single-Minute Exchange of Die - SMED.
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A graphical tool that helps create continuous flow in a multi-step, multi-operator process by distributing the operator's work elements in relation to takt time. Also known as an operator loading diagram or yamazumi board.
See: Yamazumi Board.
The practice of releasing production orders to work areas and withdrawing finished goods from those areas at a fixed, frequent pace. This practice can be used as a way to link material flows to information flows.
See: Every Product Every Interval, Heijunka Box, Milk Run, Pull Production.
Storing parts and materials as close as possible to the operations that use them.
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Grouping of activities by type, rather than in the sequence needed to design or make a product.
See: Mass Production, Material Flow.
See: Cycle Time.
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See: Heijunka.
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A production control method in which downstream activities signal their needs to upstream activities. Pull production strives to eliminate overproduction and is one of the three major components of a complete Just-in-Time production system. See : Just-in-Time (JIT), Overproduction.
Compare with : Push Production.
Highly capable process equipment that is easy to maintain (and therefore available to produce whenever needed), allows quick changeovers, is easy to move and is designed to be installed in small increments of capacity, in order to facilitate labor and capital linearity.
See : Capital Linearity and Labor Linearity.
Compare with : Monuments.
A diagram of the path a product takes as it moves along a value stream. It is so called because, in mass production, the route of products often looks like a plate of spaghetti.
See : Material Flow.
Creating awareness of takt time in areas of a production process where products cannot be delivered and withdrawn at the frequency of the takt time. See : Pitch, Takt Time.
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Available production time divided by customer demand. For example, if a factory operates 480 minutes per day and customer demand is 240 units per day, takt time is two minutes. Similarly, if customers want two new products per month, takt time is two weeks. The purpose of takt time is to precisely match production with demand by providing a rhythm for the production system. It is the heartbeat of a lean system.
See: Cycle Time, Heijunka, Just-in-Time Production, Operator Balance Chart, Pacemaker Process, Pitch, Takt Image.
All the actions, both value-creating and non-value-creating, required to bring a product or service from concept to launch (also known as the development value stream) or from order to delivery (also known as the operational value stream). They include all the information and material processing steps needed for value to be delivered to the customer.
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A simple diagram of every step involved in the material and information flows needed to serve customers, from order to delivery. See : Information Flow, Material Flow.
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Yamazumi is the Japanese term for "pile" or "heap".
See : Operator Balance Chart.
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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.
