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quality glossary
includes business excellence, lean & Six Sigma terminology
sponsored by
Pinnacle Partners, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN
5 Whys
Refers to the practice of asking, five times, why the failure has occurred in order to get to the root cause/causes of the problem.
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Andon
A tool of visual management originating from the Japanese for "Lamp". A light that provides a signal or has meaning. Andon at many manufacturing facilities is an electronic device: audio and/or color-coded visual display. Lights placed on machines or on production lines to indicate operation status.
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Batch-and-Queue
Processing more than
one item and then moving those items forward to the next operation
before they are all actually needed there…thus items need to
wait in a queue. Also called “Batch-and Push.” Contrast
with continuous flow.
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Batch Size Reduction
Lean concept or tool.
Striving to reduce batch size to the optimal level to meet the
customer demand at the next step of the process. The goal is One
Piece Flow. However, when One Piece Flow is not possible,
the goal should be to reduce the batch size as far as possible and
still be able to respond to customer demands and expectations.
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Benchmarking
The concept of
discovering what is the best performance (in a particular area or
process) being achieved, whether in your company, by a competitor, or
by an entirely different industry. Once this is determined, use this
information to improve your own processes.
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Best Practice
A way or method of
accomplishing a business function or process that is considered to be
superior to all other known methods.
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Black Belt
Six
Sigma team leaders responsible for implementing process improvement
projects (DMAIC or DFSS) within the business -- to increase customer
satisfaction levels and business productivity (top-line growth and
bottom-line results). Black Belts are knowledgeable and skilled in
the use of the Six Sigma methodology and tools. Black
Belts run
the Six Sigma projects.
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Business Excellence
A level of performance
in which a company achieves and sustains “best in industry
(world-class) results”, for critical factors deemed to be vital
to business success, as defined by the key stakeholders of the
business.
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Business Process
Quality Management
The concept of defining
macro and micro processes, assigning ownership, and creating
responsibilities of the owners.
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Business Value Added
A step or change made
to the product which is necessary for future or subsequent steps but
is not noticed by the final customer.
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Capability
The capability of a
product, process, practicing person or organization is the ability to
perform its specified purpose based on tested, qualified or
historical performance, to achieve measurable results that satisfy
established requirements or specifications.
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Cause
A factor (X) that has
an impact on a response variable (Y); a source of variation in a
process or a product or a system. Anything that adversely affects
the nature, timing, or magnitude of an adverse effect.
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Cell
Operating a true
continuous flow on workstations placed close together in the order of
processing, sometimes in a “U” shape. Cell staff may
handle multiple processes, and the number of employees is changed
when the customer demand rate changes. The “U” shaped
equipment layout is used to allow more alternatives for distributing
work elements among staff, and to quite often permit the leadoff and
final operations to be performed by the same employee.
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Cellular Processing
and Decision
Linking of operations
into the most efficient combination to maximize value-added content
while minimizing waste.
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Champion
Business
leaders and senior managers who ensure that resources are available
for training and projects, and who are involved in project tollgate
reviews. There are different levels of Champions. Two types are
Organizational Champions and Project Champions.
Project Champions own
the Six Sigma or Lean projects.
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Changeover
When a piece of
software, machine or staff member has to stop processing in order to
change and process a different item. For example, an accounting
clerk is processing accounts payable and must stop, file A/P claims,
pull A/R records, change software screens and then process accounts
receivable items.
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Change Agent
A person who leads a
change project or business-wide initiative by defining, researching,
planning, building business support and carefully selecting
volunteers to be part of a change team. Change Agents must have the
conviction to state the facts based on data, even if the consequences
are associated with unpleasantness.
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Change Management
The process responsible
for controlling and managing requests to effect changes to the
business infrastructure or any aspect of business services to promote
business benefits and results. Change Management also controls and
manages the implementation of the changes.
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Charter
(Project)
A document or sheet
that clearly scopes and identifies the purpose of an improvement
project. Items specified include, but are not limited to, background
case, purpose, team members, scope, timeline, financial benefits,
expected results and additional benefits, etc.
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Continuous Flow Processing
Items are processed and
moved from one processing step to the next one-piece-at-a-time. Each
step processes only the one piece that the next step needs, and the
transfer batch size is one. Sometimes called “single-piece-flow”
or “one piece flow.” Contrast with batch-and-queue.
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Continuous
Improvement
Adopting new activities
and eliminating those which are found to add little or no value. The
goal is to increase effectiveness by reducing inefficiencies,
frustrations, and waste (rework, time, effort, material, etc). The
Japanese Lean term is Kaizen.
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Control Chart
(Process Behavior
Charts)
A graphical tool for
monitoring changes that occur within a process, by distinguishing
variation that is inherent in the process (common cause or routine
variation…predictable process) from variation that yields a
change to the process (special cause or exceptional
variation…unpredictable process).
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Control Plan
The intent of a process
control plan is to control the product characteristics and the
associated process variables to ensure capability (around the
identified target or nominal) and stability of the product over time.
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Cost of Quality
Cost of quality is the
amount of money a business loses because its product or service was
not done right in the first place or was not produced as close to
target as possible.
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Critical to Quality
(CTQ)
CTQs are the key
measurable characteristics of a product or process whose performance
standards or specification limits must be met in order to satisfy the
customer. They align improvement or design efforts with customer
requirements.
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Customer
A person who purchases
the end product or service that a business produces.
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Customer Demand
Product needed based
upon the amount a customer requires at any given time.
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Customer Focus
The concept that the
customer is the only person qualified to specify what Quality means.
This leads to detailed analyses of who are the customers…what
are their needs, what features (or new) are required of our
products/services, how do customers rate our products/services versus
our competitors and why, how can we keep our customers satisfied?
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Customer Requirements
The
wants and needs of the customer (Voice of Customer) in Stated
or Implied Terms.
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Cycle Time
Cycle
time is the total time from the beginning to the end of your process,
as defined by your business and your customer. Cycle time includes
process time, during which a unit is acted upon to bring it closer to
an output, and delay time, during which a unit of work is spent
waiting to take the next action. It is the total elapsed time to
move a unit of work from the beginning to the end of a physical
process.
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Dashboard
A dashboard is a tool
used for collecting and reporting information about vital customer
requirements and/or your business' performance for key customers.
Dashboards provide a quick summary of process and/or product
performance.
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Data
Data are factual
information or measures used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or
calculation. The “right” data and its analysis are
critical to achieve quality improvement.
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Defect
Any type of undesired
result is a defect. A failure to meet one of the acceptance criteria
of your customers. A defective unit may have one or more defects.
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Defects per Million
(DPMO)
The average number of
defects per unit observed during an average production run divided by
the number of opportunities to make a defect on the product under
study during that run normalized to one million.
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Demand
Amount needed as
defined by the customer.
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Deming Cycle (PDSA)
(Also known as PDCA) A
continuous quality improvement model consisting of a logical sequence
of four repetitive, fluid steps for continuous improvement and
learning: Plan, Do, Study (Check) and Act.
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Design for Six Sigma
(DFSS)
An
integral part of a Six Sigma Quality Initiative structure for
designing or redesigning products and processes. Uses DMADV
framework which consists of five interconnected phases: Define,
Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify (DMADV). Design for Six Sigma is
used for new product/service introduction.
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Design of
Experiments (DOE)
A Design of Experiment
(DOE) is a structured, organized method for determining the
relationship between factors (Xs) affecting a process and the output
of that process (Y). Used in the Improve phase of Six Sigma to
determine best improvement strategy.
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DMAIC
An acronym for five
interconnected phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and
Control. Incremental process improvement using Six Sigma methodology.
Pronounced (Duh-May-Ick). DMAIC refers to a data-driven quality
strategy for improving processes, and is an integral part of the
company's Six Sigma Improvement Initiative.
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Drift
As
components age and equipment undergoes changes in temperature or
sustains mechanical stress, critical performance gradually degrades.
This is called drift. When this happens your test results become
unreliable and both design and
production quality suffer. While drift cannot be eliminated, it can
be detected and contained through the process of calibration.
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Effect
An effect is that which
is produced by a cause; the impact a factor (X) has on a response
variable (Y).
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EPE
Refers to the
“every-part-every” interval which is a measure of process
size and length. For example, if a computer system is able to change
over and produce all required checks, regardless of type (accounts
payable, payroll, etc.), during a three week cycle, then the batch
size for each individual check type is three weeks. Thus this
process is covering every part every (EPE) three weeks.
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Excess Inventory
Any product supply in
excess of the absolute minimum requirement to meet customer demand.
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FIFO
Stands for “first
in, first out,” which means that items processed by one step is
used up in the same order by the next step. FIFO is one way to
regulate a queue between two decoupled processes when a supermarket
or continuous flow are impractical. A FIFO queue is filled by the
supplying process and emptied by the customer process. When a FIFO
queue gets full, the supplying process must stop producing until the
customer process has used up some of the inventory.
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Financial Metrics
Used to measure the
gains of a Project. Financial metrics convert the process
improvements (measured through the primary process metric) in to Hard
or soft dollars.
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Flow
A main objective of the
entire lean processing effort, and one of the key concepts that
passed directly from Henry Ford to Taiichi Ohno (Toyota’s
production manager after WWII) in the manufacturing world. Ford
recognized that, ideally, production should flow (or move)
continuously all the way from raw material to the customer and
envisioned realizing that ideal through a production system that
acted as one long conveyor.
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Flowchart
A graphical
representation (picture) of a process, depicting inputs, outputs and
units of activity. It represents the entire process at a high or
detailed (depending on your use) level of observation, allowing
analysis and optimization of workflow. Current state flowcharts show
a picture of the process as it currently operates. Future state
flowcharts can be drawn to show desired process flow.
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Focused Kaizen
Improvements made
within a Value Stream using kaizen techniques…the events
usually last two to three days. Also see Kaizen
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Goal
A goal is a targeted
value by a design team while building a quality process/product.
A
goal can also be defined as a customer voice…what the customer
is asking for or specifying.
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Green Belt
An employee of an
organization who has been trained on the improvement methodology of
Six Sigma and will lead a process improvement or quality improvement
team as *part* of their full time job. Their degree of knowledge and
skills associated with Six Sigma is less than that of a Black Belt or
Master Black Belt. Extensive product knowledge in their company is a
must in their task of process improvement. The Green Belt usually
serves as a Six Sigma Team Member or leads smaller less complex
projects requiring less advanced tools and analysis.
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Group
Products/Services
Products/services with
similar process tasks can be grouped into a product family.
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Hard Savings
Six Sigma or Lean
project benefits that provide you with bottom-line profitability
results that can be measured in dollars saved.
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Heijunka
The act of leveling the
variety and/or volume of items processed at a task step over a period
of time. Used to avoid excessive batching of product types and/or
volume fluctuations, especially at a pacemaker process.
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ISO
ISO (International
Organization for Standardization) is the world's largest developer
and publisher of International Standards. ISO is a network of the
national standards institutes of 162 countries, one member per
country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that
coordinates the system.
ISO is a
non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public
and private sectors. On the one hand, many of its member institutes
are part of the governmental structure of their countries, or are
mandated by their government. On the other hand, other members have
their roots uniquely in the private sector, having been set up by
national partnerships of industry associations. Therefore, ISO
enables a consensus to be reached on solutions that meet both the
requirements of business and the broader needs of society.
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ISO Certification
ISO Certification
refers to a written assurance (the certificate) by an independent
external body (Certification Body; CB; Registrar) that it has audited
your quality management system and verified that it meets the
specific ISO requirements for that specific standard that you are
requesting certification.
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In-Control
An
"In-Control" process is one that is free of special causes
of variation. Stable, in-control, with random variation only, all
mean the same thing which is, the process behaves equally over the
time. Such a condition is most often evidence on a control chart
which displays an absence of exceptional variation. In control
refers to a process unaffected by special causes. A process that is
In Control
is affected only by common causes or routine variation (Predictable
Process). A process that is Out of
Control is affected by special
causes in addition to the common causes affecting the mean and/or
variance (Unpredictable Process).
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Inventory
Product supply on hand.
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Inventory (Excess)
Any product supply in
excess of the absolute minimum requirement to meet customer demand.
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JIT
(Just-in-Time
Manufacturing)- A planning system for manufacturing processes that
optimizes availability of material inventories at the manufacturing
site to only what, when & how much is necessary.
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Kaizen
Japanese term that
means continuous improvement.
Continuously improving
in incremental steps. The word translated from Japanese and
embracing the cultural use in Japan is: Rapid, continuous, good
change.
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Kanban
The
actual term means "signal". It is one of the primary tools
of JIT system. It signals a cycle of replenishment for production and
materials. It maintains an orderly and efficient flow of materials
throughout the entire manufacturing process. It is usually a printed
card that contains specific information such as part name,
description, quantity, etc. that gives instruction for
production or conveyance of items in a pull system. Can also be used
to perform kaizen by reducing the number of kanban in circulation,
which highlights line problems.
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Lead Time
The time required for
one piece to move all the way through a process or value stream, from
start to finish. Envision timing a marked item as it moves from
beginning to end.
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Lean Manufacturing
Initiative focused on
eliminating all waste in manufacturing processes.
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Lean Six Sigma
An integrated
methodology, infrastructure and the tools, techniques and skills from
Lean and Six Sigma necessary to optimize your processes. Lean
focuses on process speed and eliminating waste, Six Sigma focuses on
process quality and eliminating defects and reducing variation in
processes.
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Lean Thinking
A way of thinking which
specifies value, lines up all value-creating activities along a value
stream to make value flow smoothly at the pull of the customer in
pursuit of perfection. Elimination of non-value added activity
(waste). Lean focuses on process speed (speed and efficiency,
process flow, elimination of waste).
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Lean Tool Box
A set of tools,
techniques, and activities used to accomplish Lean Thinking. Some of
these include Pull Systems, Work Cells, TPM, Performance Measurement,
Setup Reduction, Quality at the Source, Continuous Flow, Batch Size
Reduction, Standardized Work, Teams, POUS, Visual Controls, Value
Stream Mapping, 5S System, Layout, SMED, CEDAC, Poka-Yoke, etc.
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Low Hanging Fruit
Those improvements and
innovations that can be suggested and implemented immediately when
they become apparent.
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Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award
The annual
self-evaluation for organizations covers the following seven
categories of criteria:
· Leadership
·
Strategic Planning
· Customer and Market Focus
·
Information and Analysis
· Human Resource Focus
·
Process Management
· Business Results
The National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a federal agency within
the Department of Commerce, is responsible for managing the Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award. The American Society for Quality
(ASQ) administers the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award under a
contract with NIST.
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Master Black Belt
Master Black Belts are
Six Sigma experts. Master Black Belts main responsibilities may
include training and mentoring of Black Belts and Green Belts;
helping to prioritize, select and charter high-impact projects;
maintaining the integrity of the Six Sigma measurements, improvements
and tollgates; and developing, maintaining and revising Six Sigma
training materials. The Master Black Belt should be a resource for
utilizing statistical process control and advanced design of
experiments tools (typically just outside the Black Belt's knowledge
base) within processes.
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Milk Run
Routing a delivery
vehicle in a way that allows it to make pickups and drop-offs at
multiple locations on a single travel loop, as opposed to making
separate trips to each.
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Motion (Excess)
Any movement of product
or machine, or employee movement that does not add value to the
product or service.
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Noise
Process input that
consistently causes variation in the output measurement that is
random, common and expected and, therefore, not controlled is called
noise. Noise also is referred to as routine variation or common cause
variation.
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Non-Value-Added Time
The time for those work
elements that adds no value to the product or service from the
customer’s point of view.
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Not Utilizing People
Not using your
employees’ mental, creative and physical abilities
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Operational
Definitions
Definitions which
assure measurements are made consistently.
Three parts:
The criterion…what
you are measuring
The method…how
you are measuring (i.e. measuring device)
The specific
instructions…rounding of final answer, etc.
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Output
The result of a
process. The deliverables of the process; such as products, services,
processes, plans, and resources.
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Overproduction
Making or producing
more, sooner or faster than is required by the next step in the
process.
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Paced Withdrawal
A timed sequence of
withdrawal of finished product from the pacemaker process. Paced
withdrawal is a tool for pacing a process and becoming aware of
processing problems within a pitch increment.
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Pacemaker Process
A series of production
steps, frequently at the down-stream (customer) end of the value
stream in a facility, that are dedicated to a particular product
family and respond to orders from external customers. The pacemaker
is the most important process in a facility because how you operate
or “set the pace” here determines how well you can serve
the customer, and what the demand pattern is like for upstream
processes.
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Point Kaizen
Improvements made at an
individual process step. Usually completed in less than one day.
Also see Kaizen.
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Poka-Yoke
Japanese term which
means mistake proofing…simple device used to prevent errors in
the process. A poka yoke device is one that prevents incorrect parts
from being made or assembled, or easily identifies a flaw or error.
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Procedures
Procedures are the
largest volume of instructional content representing practical
knowledge; they include all types of human decision making such as
guides, help text, methods, instructions, policies, regulations,
standards and technical practices. A procedure is a set of
conditional instructions that affects the human interactions
involving customers, information workers and service suppliers.
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Process Control
The features or
mechanisms that control the execution of a *Process*, including
process initiation, selection of process steps, selection of
alternative steps, iteration of steps within a loop, and process
termination.
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Process Control Plan
The Process Control
Plan assures that the good improvements established by your project
will not deteriorate once the improved process is returned to the
process owners.
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Processing (Excess)
Any effort that adds no
value to the product or service from the customer’s point of
view.
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Process Kaizen
Improvements made at an
individual process or in a specific area. Also See Kaizen.
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Process Lead Time
Door-to-door time for
the process, usually measured in days and weeks.
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Process Management
The concept of defining
macro and micro processes, assigning ownership, and creating
responsibilities of the owners.
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Process Map
A hierarchical method
for displaying processes that illustrates how a product or
transaction is processed. It is a visual representation of the
work-flow either within a process - or an image of the whole
operation. Process Mapping comprises a stream of activities that
transforms a well-defined input or set of inputs into a pre-defined
set of outputs.
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Process Owner
The individual(s)
responsible for process design and performance. The process owner is
accountable for sustaining the gain and identifying future
improvement opportunities on the process.
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Processing Time
The time a product is
actually being worked on in a machine or work area.
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Product
A product is an outcome
of a process or activity which could be a defined object or service.
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Project Scope
Defined and specific
project beginning and end points…sets the boundaries of the
project. The more specific the details (what's in-scope and what's
out of scope), the less a project may experience "scope creep".
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Project Selection
Means by which projects
are selected in an organization. Selection criteria should be
defined and tied directly to achieving the organization’s
strategic goals and objectives.
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Pull System
An alternative to
scheduling individual processes, where the customer process withdraws
the items it needs from a supermarket, and the supplying process
produces to replenish what was withdrawn. Used to avoid push. A
method of controlling the flow of resources by replacing only the
amount that has been consumed. See also kanban.
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Push System
Resources are provided
to the customer based on your business’ forecasts or schedules.
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Quality
Continuous and dynamic
adaptation of products and services to fulfill or exceed the
requirements or expectations of all parties in the organization, the
customer, and the community as a whole.
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Quality Control
Also called statistical
quality control. The managerial process during which actual process
performance is evaluated and actions are taken on unusual or
unacceptable performance.
It is a process to ensure whether a
product meets predefined standards and requisite action taken if the
standards are not met.
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Quality Function
Deployment (QFD)
A
structured methodology and mathematical tool used to identify and
quantify customers' requirements and translate them into key critical
parameters which are then tied back to the capabilities of your
process. In Six Sigma, QFD helps you to prioritize actions to improve
your process or product to meet customers' expectations.
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Quality Improvement
A systematic and
continuous activity to improve all processes and systems in the
organization to achieve optimal level of performance. The organized
creation of beneficial changes in process performance levels.
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Quality Management
A systematic set of
activities to ensure that processes create products with maximum
*Quality* at minimum *Cost of Quality*.
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Queue Time
The time a product
spends waiting in line for the next processing step.
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Reengineering
Reengineering is
focused on achieving dramatic, breakthrough improvements often by the
application of new technologies.
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Rework
Work that is done to
correct defects in products or services.
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Root Cause
An identified reason
for the presence of a defect or problem. The most basic reason,
which if eliminated, would prevent recurrence. The source or origin
of an event.
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Root Cause Analysis
Study of original
reason for nonconformance with a process. When the root cause is
removed or corrected, the nonconformance will be eliminated.
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Scope
Generally, the extent
to which a process or procedure applies. Project Scope defines the
boundaries of a project.
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Scorecard
An evaluation device,
usually used to evaluate how well your business is performing. Can
also be in the form of a questionnaire, that specifies the criteria
your customers will use to rate your business's performance in
satisfying their requirements.
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Sigma
The Greek letter “s”
(sigma) refers to the standard deviation of a population.
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Sigma Level
Determining
sigma levels of processes (one sigma, six sigma, etc.) allows process
performance to be compared throughout an entire organization, because
it is independent of the process. It is merely a determination of
opportunities and defects; however the terms are appropriately
defined for that specific process.
Sigma is a statistical term
that measures how much a process varies from perfection, based on the
number of defects per million units.
One Sigma = 690,000 per
million units
Two Sigma = 308,000 per million units
Three Sigma
= 66,807 per million units
Four Sigma = 6,210 per million
units
Five Sigma = 233 per million
units
Six Sigma = 3.4 per million units
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Signal
Process input that
sometimes causes variation in the output measurement that is specific
and unexpected and, therefore, called a signal. Signals also are
referred to as exceptional variation or special cause variation.
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SIPOC
Stands for Suppliers,
Inputs, Process, Output, and Customers. You obtain inputs from
suppliers, add value through your process, and provide an output that
meets or exceeds your customer's requirements. Visually depicted it
includes product and information flow.
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Six Sigma
A strategy-driven,
process-focused, project-enabled organizational improvement
initiative. The goal of Six Sigma is to increase profits by reducing
variability and defects and eliminating waste that undermines
customer loyalty…leading to bottom-line profitability and
top-line growth. Six Sigma is a methodology that provides businesses
with the tools to improve the capability of their business processes.
This increase in performance and decrease in process variation leads
to defect reduction and vast improvement in profits, employee morale
and quality of product. Six Sigma focuses on process quality.
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Spaghetti Diagrams
Visual layout and flow
of the process as if you would walk though it…following it
from beginning to end.
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Soft Savings
Six Sigma and Lean
project benefits such as reduced time to market, cost avoidance, lost
profit avoidance, improved employee morale, enhanced image for the
organization and other intangibles may result in additional savings
and benefits to your organization, but are harder to quantify or
measure.
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Stakeholder
People who will be
affected by the project or can influence it but who are not directly
involved with doing the project work.
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Stakeholder Analysis
A tool used to identify
and enlist support from stakeholders. It provides a visual means of
identifying stakeholder support so that you can develop an action
plan for your project.
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Standard Operating
Procedures
Documents which capture
best practices (both in written words and in visual graphics) for
meeting standard work.
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Standardized work
Doing the same thing,
the same way, each and every time, with as little non-value-added
time/task.
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Statistical Process Control (SPC)
The
application of statistical methods to identify and eliminate the
special cause or exceptional variation in a process.
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Statistical Thinking
The process of using
wide ranging and interacting data to understand processes, problems,
and determine best solutions.
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Statistics
The mathematics of the
collection, organization, and interpretation of numerical data.
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Strategic Planning
A disciplined effort to
produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what
an organization is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on
the future. Determines the strategic goals and objectives of the
organization, short and long term.
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Supermarket
A controlled inventory
that is used to schedule production at an upstream process.
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Supply Chain
Management
Managing the movement
of goods from raw materials to the finished product delivered to
customers. Supply Chain Management aims to reduce operating costs,
lead times, and inventory and increase the speed of delivery, product
availability, and customer satisfaction.
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Synchronous Flow
The concept of
“flowing” an item through a process in time with the
steps downstream to avoid bottlenecks. Acting differently than
Continuous Flow, which relies upon kanbans and one-piece flow,
synchronous flow regulates the process through balanced work, minimal
handling of the item, and timing of tasks and deadlines.
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System Kaizen
Improvement aimed at an
entire value stream. Also see Kaizen
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System of Profound
Knowledge
Deming advanced the System of Profound Knowledge (SoPK) which he said consisted of four
main subheadings:
| 1. Knowledge of Variation…a knowledge of common (routine) cause and special (exceptional) cause variation; |
| 2. Knowledge of Systems…understanding that all the parts of a business are related in such a way that if you focus on optimizing one part, other parts may suffer; |
| 3. Knowledge of Psychology…what motivates people; |
| 4. Theory of Knowledge…how we learn things: |
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Systems Thinking
Seeing
interrelationships rather than linear cause-effect chains, and seeing
processes of change rather than snapshots at a single point in time
(Peter Senge’s book, The Fifth Discipline).
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Takt Time
Lean Production uses
Takt Time as the rate or time that a completed product is finished.
Takt Time established is defining the customers’ buying rate
(the rate at which the customer buys your product).
Responding to the rate
of customer demand. How often the customer requires one finished
item. Takt time is used to design pacemaker processes, to assess
process conditions, to develop material handling containerization,
process routing, to determine problem-response requirements, and so
on. Takt is the heartbeat of a Lean system.
Takt
time is calculated by dividing Available Time by the quantity the
customer requires
in that same amount of time.
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Team Leader
The person who leads or
directs a team of people to complete a task or project.
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Throughput
Output or production
over a period of time.
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Total Content Time
The cumulative labor
time used to complete production of 1 unit through each step of the
process…doesn’t include wait time, travel times, or
other non-value-added activities.
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Total Cycle Time
The observed cycle
times at each step in a process added together. Cumulative time of
all process steps and cycle times throughout the process.
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Total Quality
Management
A conceptual and a
philosophical context which requires management and human resources
commitment to adopt a perpetual improvement philosophy, through
succinct management of all processes, practices and systems
throughout the organization to achieve effectiveness in the
organizational performance.
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Total Work Content
Time
The observed work
content times at each step in a process added together.
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Travel/Transportation
The unnecessary or
excess travel of people, product, forms or parts around a facility or
organization.
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Value
Value is the exchange
for which a customer pays.
A product or service’s
capability provided to a customer at the right time, at an
appropriate price, as defined in each case by the customer.
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Value-added
To
be a value-added action, the action must meet all three of the
following criteria:
1) The
customer is willing to pay for this activity.
2) It must be
done right the first time.
3) The action must somehow change
the product or service in some manner.
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Value-Added Time
The time for those work
elements that adds value to the product or service from the
customer’s point of view.
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Value Chain
A graphical
representation of an organization’s structure… the chain
depicts those processes that actually produce the product or
service…these are at the heart or center of the picture.
Every other process (including management) is shown as a support
process or function. Key is to optimize the value chain by aligning
the Voice of the Process to the Voice of the Customer.
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Value Proposition
The proposition that
states that:
Businesses have a right
to produce and offer products and services that yield the highest
possible profits.
Customers have a right to expect the highest quality products and services at the lowest possible cost.
The “Value Proposition” establishes this strategic alignment between organizations and their customers as critical to all improvement efforts.
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Value Stream
All
the steps (both value added and non-value added) in a process that
the customer is willing to pay for in order to bring a product or
service through the main flows essential to producing that product or
service. All activities, both value added and non-value
added, required to bring a product from raw material into the hands
of the customer, a customer requirement from order to delivery, and a
design from concept to launch. Value stream improvement usually
begins at the door-to-door level within a facility, and then expands
outward to eventually encompass the full value stream.
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Value Stream Loops
Segments of a value
stream whose boundaries are typically marked by supermarkets.
Breaking a value stream into loops is a way to divide future state
implementations into manageable pieces.
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Value Stream Manager
Person responsible for
helping to determine the current state map and creating a future
state map and leading door-to-door implementation of the future state
for a particular product family. Makes change happen across
departmental and functional boundaries.
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Value Stream Mapping
A paper and pencil tool that helps you to see and understand the flow
of material and information as a product or service makes its way
through the value stream. Value stream mapping is typically used in
Lean, it differs from the process mapping of Six Sigma in four
ways:>
1) It gathers and displays a far broader range of
information than a typical process map.
2) It tends to be at a higher level (5-10 boxes) than many process maps.
3) It tends to be used at a broader level, i.e. from receiving of raw material to delivery of finished goods.
4.) It tends to be used to identify where to focus future projects, subprojects, and/or kaizen events.
Involves two stages:
a) Follow a product’s
production path from “end” to “beginning” and
draw a visual representation of every process in the material and
information flows. (This creates the picture of the current state of
the process or the Current State Map).
b) Then draw a Future
State Map of how value should flow. The most critical map is the
Future State Map which shows proposed, improved process design.
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Variation
The fluctuation or
movement over time in process output. Can be seen visually by using
Process Behavior (Control) charts.
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Visual Controls
Simple signals that
provide an immediate understanding of a situation or condition.
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Voice of the
Customer (VOC)
Describes the stated
and unstated needs or requirements of the customer. The voice of the
customer can be captured in a variety of ways: Direct discussion or
interviews, surveys, focus groups, customer specifications,
observation, warranty data, field reports, complaint logs, etc.
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Voice of the Process
(VOP)
Term used to describe
what the process is telling you. What it is capable of achieving,
whether it is predictable or unpredictable and what significance to
attach to individual measurements. Key is to align the Voice of the
Process to the Voice of Customer.
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Waiting or Wait Time
Any amount of time
spent waiting for anything…when the process cannot flow.
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Waste
Any activity that
consumes resources but creates no value for the customer.
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WIP
Stand for “work
in process.” Any inventory between raw material and finished
goods.
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Work Content Time
The actual amount of
labor time an item or product requires to be completed by a process
step, as timed by direct observation.
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Work Flow
Steps in the process. |
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Zero waiting
time 
