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.
Alphabetical navigation of the dictionary
A way of regulating the working relationship between two machines or operators that controls overproduction and ensures the balanced use of resources.
See : Inventory, Overproduction.
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.
Open full definition
Production facilities usually managed according to the philosophy of mass production.
Compare with : Greenfield.
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.
The process of switching production from one product to another on a machine (for example, a press or an injection molding machine) or on a series of linked machines (an assembly line or cell) by changing parts, dies, fixtures, molds, etc. (Also known as setup.) Changeover time is measured as the time elapsed between the last part of the run just completed and the first good part after the changeover.
See : Single-Minute Exchange of Die - SMED.
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.
Open full definition
The time required to produce a part or complete a process, as actually measured.
Open full definition
A tendency observed in multi-step processes, in which the production orders received by each upstream process are more erratic than the actual production or sales of the downstream steps. Also known as the Forrester Effect (after Jay Forrester of MIT, who first characterized this phenomenon mathematically in the 1950s) and the Bullwhip Effect.
See: Build to Order, Heijunka, Level Selling.
The frequency with which each part is produced in a production process.
See: Heijunka.
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.
Open full definition
A new production plant, which offers the opportunity to introduce lean work methods into a new work culture in which the inertia of the past will not be a barrier. Compare with : Brownfield.
Open full definition
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 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.
The movement of information from customers to the point where it is needed to trigger each operation. See : Value Stream Mapping and Product Family Matrix.
Open full definition
Materials (and information) present along a value stream between processing steps.
Physical inventory is usually categorized by its position in the value stream and by its purpose. Raw materials, work-in-process and finished goods are terms used to describe the position of inventory in the production process. Buffer stock, safety stock and shipping stock are terms used to describe the purpose of inventory.
A measure of how quickly materials are moving through a plant or through an entire value stream, calculated by dividing a given cost measure by the amount of inventory on hand.
See : Inventory.
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.
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.
Open full definition
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
Open full definition
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.
Open full definition
An attitude toward customers which assumes that demand for many products is relatively stable but is often disrupted by the production and sales systems themselves.
See : Demand Amplification, Heijunka, Make-to-Order.
A situation in which the production lead time and the order lead time are shorter than the time the customer is willing to wait for the product, so the manufacturer builds to confirmed orders rather than to a forecast.
See: Demand Amplification, Heijunka, Level Selling.
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.
Open full definition
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.
Open full definition
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.
Open full definition
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.
Unevenness in an operation, such as ups and downs in the schedule caused not by end-customer demand but by the production system, or an uneven work pace in an operation, causing operators to hurry and then wait.
Open full definition
Toyota executive considered the chief architect of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and author of several important books on TPS.
Open full definition
Making and moving one piece at a time. See : Continuous Flow, Every Product Every Interval (EPEx), Single-Minute Exchange of Die - SMED.
Open full definition
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.
Producing more, sooner, or faster than is required by the next process. Ohno considered overproduction the most serious form of waste because it generates and hides other wastes, such as inventory, defects, and excess transportation.
See: Batch and Queue, Ohno, Seven Wastes.
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.
Any process in a value stream that sets the pace for the entire stream. (The pacemaker process should not be confused with a bottleneck process, which necessarily constrains downstream processes due to a lack of capacity.)
See: First In, First Out.
The number of items a customer (whether internal or external) wants packed and stored in a container for transport and shipping. Note that a pallet of a product may consist of numerous containers.
See : Pitch.
The amount of time needed in a production area to make one container of products. The formula for pitch is:
Takt time x pack-out quantity = pitch See : Heijunka Box, Paced Withdrawal, Pack-Out Quantity, Takt Time.
A detailed plan for each part used in a production process, showing every detail relevant to managing the process without errors or waste. It is a fundamental tool of the Toyota Production System.
See: Material Handling, Pack-Out Quantity.
Storing parts and materials as close as possible to the operations that use them.
Open full definition
A series of individual operations that must occur in a specific sequence to create a design, fulfill an order or make a product.
Open full definition
Grouping of activities by type, rather than in the sequence needed to design or make a product.
See: Mass Production, Material Flow.
A product and its variants that pass through similar processing steps and common equipment just prior to shipment to the customer. The significance of product families for lean thinkers is that they are the unit of analysis for value stream maps, which are defined starting from the last step before the customer.
See: Product Family Matrix and Value Stream Mapping.
A chart created by lean thinkers to identify the appropriate product families. See : Product Family, Value Stream Mapping.
Open full definition
The task of controlling and setting a pace for production so that products flow smoothly and quickly to meet customer requirements.
Open full definition
See: Cycle Time.
Open full definition
A disciplined method for designing a lean production process for a new product, or for fundamentally redesigning the production process for an existing product when the product or demand changes substantially. It may also be called Lean Process Development.
See: Kaizen, Kaizen Workshop.
See: Heijunka.
Open full definition
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.
Processing large batches of products at maximum speed, based on forecast demand, and moving them to the next downstream process or into storage, regardless of the actual pace of work in the next process. Batch and Queue, Production Control.
See : Batch and Queue, Production Control.
Compare with : Pull Production.
A pull production system in which upstream (supplier) processes produce only enough to replace or replenish the product withdrawn by downstream (customer) processes.
See: Kanban, Pull Production, Supermarket.
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.
The amount of inventory needed before each processing step so that it flows smoothly. See: Inventory .
Open full definition
Lean Supply Chain is the right material, in the right quantity, at the right place, at the right time, with the right quality and in the correct packaging, without waste, focusing on problem solving and prevention through people, with a view to achieving high performance. See : Lean logistics
Open full definition
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.
Open full definition
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.
See: Production Preparation Process.
Open full definition
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.
A production system developed by Toyota Motor Corporation to provide the best quality, the lowest cost and the shortest lead time through the elimination of waste. TPS is built on two pillars, Just-in-Time and Jidoka, and is usually illustrated by the "house" shown below. TPS is maintained and improved through iterations of standardized work and kaizen, following PDCA, or the scientific method.
See : Jidoka; Just-in-Time Production; Lean Production; Ohno, Taiichi.
Inherent content of a product or service, as judged by the customer, reflected in its selling price and market demand. The value in a typical product is created by the producer through a combination of actions, some of which produce value as perceived by the customer, while others are merely necessary because of the current configuration of the design and production process. The goal of Lean Thinking is to eliminate unnecessary activities and to preserve and enhance those that create value for the customer.
Open full definition
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.
Open full definition
An individual with clear responsibility for the success of a value stream. The value stream can be defined at the product or business level (including product development), or at the plant or operations level (from raw materials to delivery). The value stream manager is the architect of the value stream, identifying value as defined by the customer and leading the effort to achieve an ever leaner flow.
See : Chief Engineer.
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.
Open full definition
Yamazumi is the Japanese term for "pile" or "heap".
See : Operator Balance Chart.
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.
Use the search box to look for a specific term, browse by letter or filter by theme. Click the item to see a summary and open the full definition.
Some terms may have translations in other languages. When a translation is not available, the site may show the Portuguese version as a reference.
Yes. New terms may be added and definitions may be revised to keep the content clear, consistent and evolving over time.
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.
