Lean Terminology from The Continuous Improvement Companion
A change agent is simply an advocate for change, who follows up on those convictions. He or she not only expresses a desire for change, but also attempts to rally those around them to join the cause. While change agents can be of any rank, they must have influence to Read more…
Complex problem solving often require complex thinking to get to simple, effective, easy to implement solutions. When a team is very homogenous, they tend to think very rigidly and one-dimensionally. Consider a football team. Coaches understand the need for a well-balanced set of skills. A team needs big guys for Read more…
Continuous flow is the act of moving a product through the production process from start to finish without stopping. In pure continuous flow, the cycle time equals the lead time, as the product never sits in a queue waiting to be worked on. Contrast this to batch and queue production Read more…
Check Sheets are a means of tallying data. They are generally kept at the point of data collection, and every time a particular incident happens, a check is placed in the appropriate box. In many cases, the check sheet will be broken down into a grid. The columns most often Read more…
The Countermeasure Sheet is a form used to track the actions necessary to get a KPI metric or other goal back on track. The basic steps to using the Countermeasure Sheet are: Fill out the header information. Create a problem statement. Do your homework and provide the background information. Do Read more…
A chaku-chaku line has a series of machines, each equipped with a hanedashi device, or autoejector. This enables the operator working a chaku-chaku line to: walk up and immediately insert the part he is holding into a machine press a start button, and then pick up the previously ejected part. Read more…
Catchball is a business management technique of floating ideas and comments around in an iterative manner. The name comes from the metaphor of tossing an idea back and forth, much like you might with a football. In Lean, the catchball process refines ideas promotes buy-in from the front line encourages Read more…
The control step of the DMAIC process is where changes are locked in place. The control step requires a system to measure the performance of the new process to ensure it is performing as expected. The full DMAIC process is: Define Measure Analyze Improve Control Without the control step, there Read more…