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Lean Dictionary

Welcome to the Lean Dictionary section of the Award Winning Continuous Improvement Companion.

Click the letters below to put this extensive resource to use.

This Lean Dictionary contains a wealth of information, tips, and pitfalls to avoid for beginners and experts alike. It looks at the terms from the perspective of both the company AND the employee, so you both win.

Velaction's Lean Dictionary

Hundreds of entries, and growing...

Plus, a growing number of the terms are downloadable and can be printed to build your own customize continuous improvement reference guide.

Be sure to bookmark this site! Our Lean Dictionary is always growing. Check back often to see what we’ve added.

Random Previews From Our Extensive Lean Reference Guide…

  • Backups (Employee)

    Employee backups are the people who fill in when the regular operator is absent.

    Having backups implies something. It means that the team has regularly assigned positions and does little or no job rotation.

    In great Lean companies, standard work is in full force and people rotate in and out of positions regularly. This reduces the need for backups because there are already many people cross-trained for each work area.

  • 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.

  • Fishbone Diagram

    The fishbone diagram (a.k.a. cause and effect diagram, a.k.a. Ishikawa Diagram) is a way of linking the causes of a problem to the observed effect.

    The diagram groups the causes in categories along the spine. The distinctive shape of the tool gives the fishbone diagram its name.

  • Line Shift

    A line shift is a synchronized movement of all the production work on an assembly line. It can be done in several ways.

    • Manually, in which each person pushes their work to the next station on a signal.
    • On an indexed moving line, in which the line moves and then stops. The movement may be triggered manually, or automatically.
    • On a continuously moving line, in which the movement of the work units never stops. Rather, the conveyor crawls along as a snail’s pace past the assembly workers.
  • Office Process Recording Sheet

    Office Process Recording Sheet

    The Office Process Recording Sheet is a tool used to document the steps in an administrative process.

    Format: XLSX

    Regular Price: Free for Registered Users

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