A list of Japanese Lean Terms from The Continuous Improvement Companion
“Genchi genbutsu” is a Japanese term that loosely translates to “go and see”. Essentially, it means to go to the actual spot where actual work is happening on the actual product to confirm your conclusions. Similar to the term “go to gemba“, the spirit of genchi genbutsu is to avoid Read more…
Yokoten is a Japanese term that loosely translates into “horizontal deployment”. Essentially, it is the spreading of information across the organization. A key point to this is that it is not just the result that is shared, but also the process that led to the result. Most organizations have numerous Read more…
Shojinka is a form of flexible manufacturing, where the number of workers vary to match demand requirements. This is obviously superior to a static system that staffs work areas without consideration for fluctuations in production requirements. Being able to reassign people to exactly where they are needed will help keep Read more…
Hansei is a Japanese term that loosely translates to self-reflection. In practice, though, it is much more than that. Hansei requires several things. A person must recognize that there is a problem in personal performance. Hansei is not a run-of-the-mill assessment tool. It looks at personal failings rather than system Read more…
A kaizen event is a discrete continuous improvement project with a defined start and end point, usually done in a single week. A typical kaizen event consists of a day of training, a day of process walking and analyzing the information gathered, followed by two days of improvement activity. The Read more…
A concrete head is someone who is resistant to the changes that Lean brings. Obviously, this is a derogatory term. The term “concrete head’ is the result of a translation from Japanese. In working with Japanese consultants, it appeared that the term was applied to individuals who displayed resistance, but Read more…
A water spider or ”mizusumashi” in Japanese (see our listing of Japanese Lean terms), is a person who has a prescribed set of tasks to keep materials in stock at the point of use in production areas. NOTE: The water spider is alternately called a water strider. This differs from Read more…
Nagara is a Japanese term meaning “while doing something”. It simply means to do more than one thing at a time. For example, a person may be able to assemble two parts while walking. In practice, though, the application of the nagara principle is limited. In most cases, a process Read more…
Muri is a Japanese term for a specific form of waste. It means unreasonableness or overexertion. It is often referred to with two other Japanese terms. Muda is the traditional view of waste in which resources are used without adding to output. Mura is inconsistency or unevenness, usually as a Read more…
Mura is one of three Japanese terms meaning waste. The others are muda, the traditional form of waste in which resources are not effectively used, and muri, meaning overburden or overexertion. Mura means inconsistency or excess variation in either processes or demand. When processes can’t be standardized because of the Read more…
Hoshin kanri is a Japanese term meaning policy deployment or strategic planning. Hoshin kanri has a few characteristics to it: Stretch goals: Hoshin kanri requires leaders to develop stretch goals that may take a number of years to achieve. These goals should come from business opportunities or risks on the Read more…
Gembutsu is a Japanese word meaning “real thing”. It is one of the components of the ‘Three Reals‘ meaning go to the real place (gemba) to see the real thing (gembutsu) and collect the real facts (genjitsu). This term simply means that there is no substitute for seeing something with Read more…