An understanding of Lean terminology is critical to a successful Lean implementation. This extensive guide, part of our Continuous Improvement Companion, is designed to primarily be an online resource, with the option to print key parts to hand out to project teams.

These handouts can contain a custom list of Lean terminology to make sure the project team is speaking a common language and has the right tools for the continuous improvement task at hand.


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C-Level Executive

C-Level executives are the top individuals in an organization’s hierarchical structure. The most common are: CEO (Chief Executive Officer) CFO (Chief Financial Officer) COO (Chief Operating Officer) There are also frequently c-level executives in charge of marketing or information technology. Some organizations will even go further and assign a chief Read more…

Calibration

Calibration is the process of comparing the measuring or output capabilities of a piece of equipment to a known standard. This allows for one of two basic actions that make sure that the equipment can be used effectively. You can apply a correction factor to the instrument, much like “Kentucky Read more…

Call Center

Call centers are simply clusters of people answering phones for a particular purpose. It might be to provide information, as in a hotline for a recall. It could be for placing orders, for technical support, or for customer service. Call centers can be inbound, where customers are calling in, or Read more…

Can’t

The word “Can’t” is not compatible with continuous improvement. It is surprising how many things that “can’t” be done get accomplished by people and teams when they actually try. “Can’t” becomes an excuse for not attempting. It also is frequently treated as gospel when people say something “can’t be done.” Read more…

Capability

Capability simply means that a person or machine has the ability to perform a required task. It is a binary measure. That simply means that it is physically possible in the current state to do something, or it is not. Capability should not be confused with yield or effectiveness (how Read more…

Capability Analysis

Capability Analysis

Capability Analysis is the act of determining process capability, or the ability of a process to meet a designated set of specifications. It involves a set of statistical calculations to determine whether the spread of the performance of a process fits within the desired specification. There are several terms embedded Read more…

Capacity

Capacity is the amount a given group, team, or individual can produce. It is determined by factors such as productivity, staffing, hours of operations, equipment limitations, defects/scrap, setup time requirements, number of shifts, equipment maintenance requirements, and a host of other factors. When does capacity become most important? As any Read more…

Capital Expenses

Capital expenses are the costs for fixed assets—the things that are typically carried on the books (reported on financial statements), last longer than a year, and provide recurring value. Buildings, vehicles, and equipment are typically capital expenses. Capital expenses hit the income statement in the form of depreciation. Your company Read more…

Catalog Engineer

“Catalog engineer” is a derisive term used to describe someone with a lack of creativity when it comes to process improvement. The term describes those who immediately attempt to purchase an existing solution to a problem rather than try to figure out a method in-house. Process improvement will, of course, Read more…

Catchball

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…

CEDAC

CEDAC is an acronym that stands for cause and effect diagram with the addition of cards. It is a very specific way of building a fishbone diagram in which team members contribute ideas written on 3 x 5 cards or Post-it notes. CEDAC is a problem-solving tool that relies on Read more…

Central Limit Theorem

The central limit theorem, in layman’s terms, says that regardless of the shape of the distribution of a population, in most cases, the mean of random samples taken from that population will approximate a normal distribution. The larger the sample, or the larger the number of samples, the closer the Read more…

Central tendency of data

Central Tendency

Central tendency is a statistics term that is used to describe where the middle of a data set lies. The challenge is that there are a few different ways to describe where that middle lies. There are three common ways to describe the centering of data. Mean (or average): the Read more…

Autoejector Device

Chaku-Chaku

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…

Chalk Circle

One of the most commonly told stories about Lean is of the chalk circle. Taiichi Ohno, the father of modern Lean, would draw a circle on the floor in chalk and tell his engineers or managers to stand in it to watch an operation. His instruction was simply “Watch.” After Read more…

Champion

Making changes can be a rather large challenge. This is especially true when you are committed to making improvements to the value stream as a whole rather than local ones for an individual process. It is common for disputes to occur, especially when a project team recognizes that there can Read more…

Change Agent

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…

Change Management

Change management is a fairly large field of study that deals with effectively and efficiently introducing changes into an organization. When changes occur, there are some predictable sequences of events that follow. Understanding this process will help smooth transitions that are associated with continuous improvement. Change has two main components. Read more…

Change Resistance

Overcoming Resistance to Change in a Lean Company The term “resistance to change” is commonly used in discussions about Lean. It simply means that people are set in their ways, and often don’t want to modify their routines. Surprisingly, this change resistance doesn’t just occur when people who like their Read more…

Changeitis

Changeitis is an innate resistance to change, regardless of the merits of the new situation. It is one of many Lean afflictions that hamper the full potential of continuous improvement efforts. Some people get set in their ways and oppose change on general principle. These people might even complain about Read more…

Changeover

Changeover is the time it takes to go from the last good part of one product run to the first good part of the next product run. Quick changeover is critical to Lean. It provides the flexibility to match the product mix to actual demand. In turn, this prevents the Read more…

Check Sheet

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…

Checklists

Checklists are in rather common use and the general concept of their use is understood by most. But they are  commonly misused and there are multiple potential pitfalls with this type of standardization tool. Some checklists require the steps to be completed in a precise sequence; others, like a checklist Read more…

Checkpoints

Checkpoints, in the military, are used to track progress of a unit’s movement. In Lean, checkpoints can be used in a similar fashion. Checkpoints can be linked to specific process steps. When the sequence of work is standardized, the operator should hit those checkpoints with the same time remaining in Read more…

Cherry Picking

Cherry picking is the practice of taking on the easiest work first. It generally has a reputation as being a bad practice. In continuous improvement, though, there are times that cherry picking is a desired practice. As a rule of thumb, if a process is intended to flow, you should Read more…

Clarity Impairment

Strong communication is an important ingredient for effective teams, and continuous improvement relies heavily upon teamwork. Some people, though, suffer from Clarity Impairment, a Lean affliction in which they are unable to provide information without ambiguity. This might fall into the realm of just not making sense with what they Read more…

CLOSED MITT

CLOSED MITT

CLOSED MITT is an acronym used to categorize waste. It expands on the traditional 7 Wastes that are frequently used in Lean efforts. The origin of CLOSED MITT is unknown, but it has grown in use over the years. Since its early days, it has come into fairly common mention Read more…

Co-Location

Co-location describes dissimilar processes being placed near each other to facilitate flow. This typically happens when you are creating a product-oriented work cell on the shop floor, or when you use value stream management and have administrative teams assigned to specific product groups in the office. Like all things, there Read more…

Coaching

Coaching is the act of giving specific guidance to help a person make better decisions that will result in the individual getting closer to reaching his or her goals or accomplishing a specific task better. Generally speaking, coaching is very targeted, and usually comes as a result of a formally Read more…

Common Cause Variation

Common cause variation is the predictable, repetitive, systemic portion of variation. Contrast this with special cause variation, caused by unusual occurrences. Common cause variation, in a nutshell, is the consistent random (or random appearing) fluctuation built into a process. It is also frequently referred to as noise. While common cause Read more…

Communication

Communication is the act of transferring information and ideas from person to person. It comes in many forms. Face-to-face conversations. E-mails. Phone. Voicemail. Non-verbal communication (i.e. rolling of eyes). Pictures painted on the walls of caves. Even chalk marks on park benches can be a form of communication between covert Read more…

Competition

Competition is the act of trying to get your needs met over the needs of someone else. It could be competing in sports (your need to win over their need), in a job hunt (you against the thousand other applicants). Or it could be in a marketplace (trying to fight Read more…

Competitive Advantage

A competitive advantage is a condition through which one organization has to spend fewer resources to get the same benefit as a competitor (or, of course, gets more benefit for spending the same amount of resources.) This advantage can be because of a perception of higher quality products, because of Read more…

Complacency

Complacency is the state of being content with achievements while simultaneously being unaware of the pending dangers. One of the greatest risks successful Lean companies face is complacency. They make massive gains, and become highly competitive in their markets. Then they become complacent and rest on their laurels while the Read more…

Complexity

Complexity is the state of having many interconnected parts. It is anything that has a lot of intricacy to it. The word has a negative connotation to it in Lean. So, what is excessive complexity from a Lean perspective? It is adding more to a process than is needed. It Read more…

Compromise

A compromise involves mutual concessions by both sides during a disagreement. A compromise is characterized by each party getting less than they originally wanted in order to reach an agreement. Compare compromise to collaboration and cooperation where two parties work together to achieve common (or overlapping) goals. In those types Read more…

Computers

Not that many years ago, people could choose not to use computers. In fact, many people did not have access to a computer at home or at work. But things have changed. According to Statista, as of 2019, 89.3% of US households have a computer. And many of the last Read more…

Concrete Head

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…

Concretitis

Work with Japanese Lean consultants for any length of time, and you will almost certainly hear the term “concrete head”. It is a derogatory term used to indicate people who are generally opposed to not only making changes, but even discussing them. People who are extremely susceptible to displaying this Read more…

Conflicts

Conflict is the state of disagreement or opposition. Conflict is a normal part of any Lean effort. When a process is changed, people invariably have differing opinions about the best way to fix things. In some cases, there is even conflict about whether something is even a problem. Conflict is Read more…

Confusion

Confusion is a lack of certainty. This uncertainty translates to waste. This waste is cause by two main things: Delays: Confusion creates delays in processes when operators try to figure out what to do. This leads to variation in cycle time. With enough of these delays, lead times also become Read more…

Consistency

The definition of consistency (for Lean) is the ability to repeat a process over and over and get the same results every time. Although it is not exclusively a Lean term, consistency is a critical component of Standard Work. Why is it important to continuous improvement? Consistency in processes is Read more…

Constraints

Eliyahu Goldratt put together his “Theory of Constraints” and presented its principles in his book The Goal. He explained that systems generally have a single (sometimes more) bottleneck that limits, or constrains, production. In a more general sense, a constraint is anything that prevents you from accomplishing something that you Read more…

Consumer’s Risk

Consumer’s risk, also known as beta risk or type-II risk, is the chance of a bad product being identified incorrectly as good and escaping to the purchaser. In technical terms, it is the act of accepting the null hypothesis (that the product is good), when the alternate hypothesis (that the Read more…

Containment

Containment is an interim quality management step. When a problem is identified, the organization must take steps to prevent defects from escaping. Containment is a method of systematically identifying and quarantining all materials that are suspect until they can be confirmed not to contain defective items. Note that this is Read more…

Continuous Flow

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…

Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is the art of relentlessly attempting to make people, organizations, operations, and processes better. It is an all-the-time thing. It includes the reduction of costs (primarily through waste reduction), adding more value to customers, and increasing sales by offering better products and services. True continuous improvement has a Read more…

Continuous Improvement Culture

A continuous improvement culture is a shared value system that promotes the belief that what is good enough today is not good enough for tomorrow. Cultures do not change overnight. It takes time, patience, strong communication skills, and most importantly, trust between managers and their teams. A continuous improvement culture Read more…

Contract (of Change)

Frequently, people will have their teams sign a contract of change that clarifies what their role is in whatever project or initiative they are taking part in. For some reason, when people sign their names to something, they are more likely to follow through on it. These contracts generally include Read more…

Control (DMAIC Step)

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…

Control (Scientific)

A control, or control group is a tool used to confirm whether changes are actually having an effect. The control group is exposed to the same conditions as the test group with the exception of the variable that is being examined. For example, you may be experimenting whether increasing tire Read more…

Control Limits

Control limits are lines established 3 standard deviations from the mean on a control chart. Keep in mind that the control chart depicts averages, so exhibits a normal distribution. (See Central Limit Theorem) 99.7% of all random variation (common cause) will fall within the upper and lower control limits. Outliers Read more…

Conveyors

Conveyors are automated systems for moving products and materials between two points. Roller tables perform the same function, but without the automation. Some are built on the ground; others are elevated to bench level. Some even hang parts from an overhead track. While conveyors certainly have an application in many Read more…

Cooperation

Cooperation is the act of tailoring your activities to work with someone else’s in order to achieve a specific result. Cooperative relationships are generally informal. They tend to be successful because there is overlap in what both parties want to achieve-the intersection of both of their goals. While all parties Read more…

Correlation

Correlation is a statistical term that describes the relationship between two different, measurable factors. The relationship may be positive (same direction—one goes up, the other goes up, like temperature and the number of people on the beach), or negative (like temperature and the number of people wearing coats). The relationship Read more…

Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)

The cost of poor quality (COPQ) is the aggregate impact of an organization’s errors and defects on the company. It includes costs associated with scrap, rework, inspection, data management, data collection, redesign, warranty claims, lawsuits, lost sales, loss of reputation, additional inventory, and any other expense that is incurred to Read more…

Costs

Costs are simply our outlays or expenses for which we get something in return. It is most often money, but it can be anything—time, money, or even something that you trade in barter. That expectation of getting something in return, given the assumption of a rational market, always implies a Read more…

Counterclockwise Flow

Many Lean experts advocate setting up work areas so there is counterclockwise flow. This principle goes hand-in hand with the U-shaped cell. Using a counterclockwise flow comes from the fact that most people are right-handed. As they move through the cell, their dominant hand is closer to the work sooner. Read more…

Countermeasures

Countermeasures are the actions taken to reduce or eliminate the root causes of problems that are preventing you from reaching your goals. In many cases, this is a formal process for a company. A company does its strategic planning, which cascades down through the levels of an organization, creating targets, or Key Performance Indicators Read more…

Creativity

Creativity is the ability to break the mold of traditional thinking. Most people think of creativity as the ability to come up with new ideas. But creativity is also exhibited when people use existing ideas or information in new ways. Creativity is very important to Lean. It is easy to Read more…

Credibility of Lean

Credibility is trustworthiness. Credibility comes from a track record of getting things right. Lean, despite its global success, has to earn its credibility within a company. It is not enough for a leader to talk about the virtues of Lean, or to point to external examples. Employees have to see Read more…

Critical Few

Criticism is negative feedback about something. At work, criticism can be about personal performance or a process. In a Lean culture, discussing problems is an essential part of making improvements. The key to success at addressing these issues is to make every attempt to separate the failure of a person Read more…

Criticism

Criticism is negative feedback about something. At work, criticism can be about personal performance or a process.

In a Lean culture, discussing problems is an essential part of making improvements. The key to success at addressing these issues is to make every attempt to separate the failure of a person from the failure of a process.

Cross-Functional Team

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…

Cross-Training

Cross-training employees is exactly what it sounds like—multiple people trained on each job, and each person trained on multiple jobs. Cross-training employees provides flexibility. It allows leaders to shift people around to cover for breaks, vacations, and illnesses. It also allows leaders to adjust staffing when there are shifts in Read more…

Curiosity

Curiosity is the desire to learn more, or the state of dissatisfaction with a lack of knowledge. It is also a fundamental part of any problem solving mentality. Curiosity provides the drive to follow up on an issue once it is identified. It gives the spark that makes people continue Read more…

Customer Behavior

Customer behavior is the way the average customer, in a specific target group, will act in a given situation. Customer behavior depends on a host of factors—economic class, psychology, region, culture. Like-minded customers tend to behave in similar ways. That is why ads are targeted to specific groups. In the Read more…

Customers

Who is a customer in the modern world? He is demanding. He wants his product immediately. He wants value, but that doesn’t mean cheap. It just means that he wants to feel like he gets a little more for his money. And he wants products that work, and services that Read more…

Cycle

A cycle is the time from the start of a process until the operator (or machine) is ready to start the next time through the process. An alternative definition of cycle says it is the time from the start of one part until the start of the next part. The Read more…

Cycle Time

In nearly all continuous improvement projects, it is important to know how long work takes to accomplish, known as the cycle time of the process. So, what is cycle time? Lean defines cycle time as the time it takes to do a process. It includes the time from when an Read more…