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 visual management tool that shows the status of operations in an area at a single location and signals when something abnormal occurs.
See : Jidoka, Visual Management.
Five related terms, all beginning with the letter S, that describe workplace practices useful for visual management and lean production. The five Japanese terms are: Seiri: Separate needed items from unneeded ones - tools, parts, materials, documents - and discard the latter.
Seiton: Arrange what remains, defining a place for everything and putting everything in its place.
Seiso: Cleaning.
Seiketsu: Standardization resulting from good performance in the first three Ss.
Shitsu
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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A tool used to level the mix and volume of production by distributing kanban at fixed intervals. Also known as a leveling box.
See: Every Part Every Interval (EPEx), Heijunka, Kanban, Material Handling, Paced Withdrawal, Pitch.
Providing machines and operators with the ability to detect when an abnormal condition has occurred and immediately stop work. This enables operations to build quality into the product at each step of the process and separates people from machines for more efficient work. Jidoka is one of the two pillars of the Toyota Production System, along with Just-in-Time.
See : Andon, Error-Proofing, Automatic Line Stop, Inspection, Just-in-Time (JIT), Multi-Process Handling, Toyota Production System, Visual Management.
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 kanban is a signaling device that authorizes and gives instructions for the production or withdrawal of items in a pull system. The term means "signals" or "signal board" in Japanese. See : Heijunka, Heijunka Box, Just-in-Time (JIT) Production, Pull Production, Supermarket.
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See: Standardized Work.
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A board, usually a large whiteboard, placed next to a process to show actual performance compared with planned performance.
See: PDCA.
Tagging unnecessary items in order to remove them from a production area during a 5S exercise.
See : 5S.
Establishing precise procedures for the work of each operator in a production process, based on the following three elements: Takt time, which is the rate at which products must be produced to meet customer demand.
The exact work sequence in which an operator performs tasks within takt time.
The standard inventory, including items on the machines, required to keep the process operating smoothly.
See : Kaizen, Operator Balance Chart, PDCA, Takt Time.
Placement of all tools, parts, production activities and performance indicators of the production system in an easily visible location, so that the actual situation can be quickly understood by everyone involved.
See : Andon, Jidoka.
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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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.
