A list of Japanese Lean Terms from The Continuous Improvement Companion
Kaikaku is revolutionary change. Where kaizen is generally evolutionary in nature, Kaikaku requires radical shifts in thinking. Revolutionary changes tend to be far more challenging in nature and much less common than incremental improvement. Because of the broad, sweeping changes that kaikaku brings, it is generally driven by higher level Read more…
A kaizen charter is a form that lays out the scope and goals of a rapid improvement project. Get Our Kaizen Charter Form for FREE The kaizen charter is a living document that evolves throughout the planning process. It establishes the team, and scopes the project, setting the goals and Read more…
Baka yoke is the Japanese term for “fool proofing” or “idiot proofing”. Needless to say, it is not the most politically correct of terms, and has been replaced in common use by poka yoke, or “mistake proofing”. The principle is the same for both terms. Prevent mistakes rather than correct 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…
A hanedashi device is an automatic part ejector. It reduces waste when an operator approaches a machine to load the next part. In a machine without a hanedashi device, the operator would have to set down the new part that he would be carrying to the machine, pull out the Read more…
Kaizen is a Japanese word that roughly translates to “change for the good”. Many people equate this to putting together a team of people from several work areas to do a week-long project to reduce waste or improve a process’s flow. These projects may be called a kaizen blitz, a Read more…
Many Lean terms can trace their origins to Japan. Muda is one of those terms. It really translates to “wasteful activity”, but in common practice most people equate muda to waste. Since one of Lean’s main goals is reducing waste to improve flow, it is no surprise that muda has Read more…
The most common definition of jidoka is “autonomation”. It is Japanese in origin, as are many specialized words in Lean. The term traces its roots back to the early 1900’s at Toyota in Japan, then a textile manufacturing company. Sakichi Toyoda, an inventor and the founder of Toyota, developed a Read more…
Heijunka is the Japanese term for level-loading or production leveling. It is intended to smooth out the peaks and valleys of customer demand into something flatter to create conditions that make standardization easier. It also stabilizes the product mix to support Standard Work. Heijunka, pronounced High-June-Kuh, is a workaround for Read more…
An andon light is one of the most common forms of visual management that is used in Lean. It is a staple in the bag of Lean tools because it is highly effective at keeping operations running smoothly. In Lean, the term “andon” most often refers to a signaling system Read more…
Literally translated, “gemba” means “the real place”. To experienced practitioners of Lean, this means the place where work is actually being done or value is being created. NOTE: You may also hear the term as genba, with an “N”. Those who focus more on the traditional manufacturing roots of Lean Read more…
A kanban is a signal that gives an instruction to get, move, produce, order, or take some other activity with production materials. Its literal translation from the original Japanese term, though, is “signboard” or “billboard”. Kanbans tell you when to order, what to order, how much to order, and where Read more…