-
Yokoten: Sharing of Best Practices
Also known as Horizontal Deployment and Sideways Expansion. Variants include Suggestion System. A Best Practice is that practice that has been proved to produce the best results consistently. It is the best-known way of doing something and has the potential to be replicated internally and externally. Best practices normally represent creative solutions to common and everyday problems.…
-
Standard Work
Also known as standardized work and Standardization. Variants include Interchangeability. Standard work means working on standards to produce correct and consistent results. It is considered a way to achieve the highest possible degree of consistency and reliability in any process. It aims to ensure that everything is done by everyone in the same way and…
-
Lean Concept of Value
Also known as VA NVA Analysis and Value-Added Analysis. Variants include Waste Analysis. Oftentimes, we tend to create additional steps to a process in order to fix a problem or enhance a situation. Over time, these additional activities become an established part of the process although they do not add any value to the product…
-
Lean Concept of Waste
Also known as the Eight Wastes and the Eight Deadly Wastes and the eight forms of waste. Variants include the Seven Wastes. In a Lean culture, waste is anything that doesn’t add value from the customer’s perspective. It includes activities that consume resources, add cost to the product or service but contribute zero value to…
-
Value Stream Mapping: A Visual Approach to Process Optimization
Also known as Material and Information Flow Analysis and Value Stream Analysis. A Value Stream Map (VSM) is a high-level visual representation of a business process. It helps to understand the flow of value through the process as perceived by the customer. The primary goal is to identify and eliminate waste and make the process…
-
Visual Management Audit Checklist
Visual Management is a technique that uses information displays, visual controls, labels and signs, color coding and other markings instead of written instructions. This visual management audit checklist will enable the observer to better address compliance gaps and provides an opportunity for continuous improvement. An effective audit should end up with a list of improvement…
-
Process Chart Template
A process chart is a representation showing the sequence of activities within a process. This type of process map is preferable when documenting sequential processes that contain few decisions. This template allows to record the steps of a process in a tabular format. It is often used to identify waste by analyzing the non-value adding…
-
The Main Components of an Effective Visual Management System
Also known as Visual Control. Visual Workplace, and Visual Factory. Visual management is a business management approach that communicates important information in a visual and real-time manner. It is a system of labels, signs, markings, information displays, and visual guides instead of written instructions. Lean organizations rely significantly on visual management to detect abnormalities, reinforce…
-
Observation and Gemba Walks
Also known as the Go See Technique, and Going to the Gemba. Variants include Management by Walking Around (MBWA). Many managers nowadays try to resolve work-related issues while they are sitting in their office or in the meeting room. Attempting to resolve problems in this way without visiting the actual place and without seeing what’s…
-
Measuring True Process Yield Using Robust Yield Metrics
An ideal process must operate with zero defects and without rework. To unveil these unnecessary and costly inefficiencies, it is important to employ appropriate performance metrics for measure process yield, or otherwise, the true process yield might be underestimated. Process yield measures should be able to expose even the smallest inefficiencies within a process, empowering…
Continuous Improvement Toolkit
Effective Tools for Business and Life!