Get more from our Lean Encyclopedia by using our search function to find everything we have on your topic.
Daily improvement is the strategy of making constant, incremental improvements each and every day in order see impressive long-term gains. While many people see kaizen as just a week-long event, it is much more powerful when an entire workforce engages in daily improvement efforts. Daily improvement does not have to Read more…
Daily management is a structured approach to running an operation. In a nutshell, daily management is the constant application of the PDCA cycle to a production process. Daily management consists of: Planning: Daily management requires an understanding of what demand will be, and of the capabilities of the organization. It Read more…
The Daily Management Worksheet is a tool to help you update your production board. It has tabs for planning your demand and staffing. This information is automatically added to the production board worksheet to help you manage your day. The production board is the cornerstone of daily management. It is Read more…
Businesses have an incredible amount of information flowing into them. It is often impractical for people to process the data and make quick assessments and corrections to the business without some sort of simplification tool. One such tool is the dashboard. It is simple view of the key metrics of Read more…
Data (the plural form of datum) is essentially information that is not yet in context, or without any applied meaning. For example, if you were told that a particular elephant in a zoo weighed 5,800 pounds, you could comprehend how heavy that is, but it would be hard to act Read more…
Some people are so convinced of things that no amount of data can influence their opinion. The presentation of data contrary to their current belief actually repels them and makes them become more firmly entrenched in their own position. This is one of several Lean afflictions. There is actually a Read more…
The data collection methods that you use lay the foundation for the eventual success of your continuous improvement projects. Simply put, data are the facts of the case. Raw data is then complied and processed into useful information that helps gain more insight into whatever you are trying to learn Read more…
Days sales of inventory (DSI) is an accounting measure that gives an idea of how much inventory is on hand in a company. A large number means the company is generally inefficient at turning raw materials into profit. The formula for DSI is: The average inventory is calculated as follows: Read more…
Days sales outstanding is a measure of how effective an organization is at getting paid. DSO indicates how many days of sales are still left uncollected. Obviously, an excessively high number means a lot of cash is tied up in the cost of producing and shipping products. On the surface, Read more…
Deadlines are, simply put, the date something is due. Deadlines may be externally dictated, such as the Internal Revenue Service’s April 15th deadline. They may also be internally set. You may establish March 15th as the date you want all of your tax records gathered. External deadlines tend to carry Read more…
A decision is a choice between two competing or alternative options. We make countless decisions each and every day—what to wear, what to eat, the route to take to work. Some decisions are made so rapidly that they are virtually automatic. You make a decision every time you adjust the Read more…
Decision making is the process used to select from two or more competing options. You make decisions on who you will marry (one open spot, multiple candidates), where to go on vacation (vacation locales competing for your time and money), and how you want to invest the ten grand you Read more…
The Decision Matrix Template is used to simplify the decision-making process and prevent emotional, gut decisions. In short, a decision matrix template helps users grade a set of options against a set of criteria. This template, like most decision matrix templates, includes a weighting system. It puts additional value on Read more…
There are two basic definitions for decision point. The first is on a macro level. It is the latest point in time when a decision must be made within a plan. In many cases, it is advantageous to delay making a final choice until the last possible moment—it keeps options Read more…
A decision tree is a tool that helps calculate the expected values of the choices that are available to you. It uses probabilities of events happening and estimates of each possible outcome to help you make a decision. For example, if you called in to a radio contest where you Read more…
Dedicated pieces of equipment are machines and tools that are specified for specific tasks or workstations. The primary purpose of dedicating equipment to a specific process step is to facilitate flow. If a machine is shared, it may not be available when needed, causing items to wait in a queue. Read more…
Defects are the undesirable results of an error in a process. In most cases, this shows up as a product or service not conforming to a specification. Defects are often expressed as either yield of good parts, such as a 95% yield (meaning a 5% defect rate), or as Defects Read more…
The define step of DMAIC is where the problem statement is created, the project is scoped, and the team is formed. The define step lays the foundation for the success of the project. A central part of the define step is to build a business case. That simply means gaining Read more…
Delegation is the act of appointing another person or group, usually a subordinate, to perform a specific task or role. For delegation to be successful, it should include the transfer of power along with the assignment—the authority of the subordinate to act on the boss’s behalf. Lean starts a mass Read more…
Delivery is one of the legs of the QDC (quality, cost, delivery) acronym. It is a very simple concept—to get paid, you have to get your product to your customer. For such a simple concept, delivery plays a large role in a company’s performance. Doing well at delivering quickly can Read more…
The Delphi method of predicting outcomes has been around for a long while but is not widely used in continuous improvement. It is the process of posing questions to many experts and using a summary of their results to further a discussion to predict a future outcome. One such panel Read more…
Demand windows are periods of time when customer demand is relatively stable. For slow growth or mature products, the window can be extremely long. For other products, demand windows can change seasonally (think water skis or snow shovels), hour-by-hour (think fast food), or can trend steeply up or down. In Read more…
Customer demand is the pull from a customer. Don’t confuse customers saying they want to purchase something with actually buying something. There is a considerable fall-off between a customer admiring a product or service, and actually opening up her wallet. Knowing your customer demand is critical to Lean operations. Customer Read more…
The Deming Cycle, also known as the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle is a standardized problem solving approach. It is widely taught as part of most companies’ Lean training. PDCA is built into nearly all structured problem-solving tools, such as kaizen projects, A3 reports, policy deployment, and countermeasures. The Deming Cycle is Read more…
Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an early thought leader on modern continuous improvement. He is known for many things but is probably best known for two specific achievements. The first is that he is closely linked to the revival of the Japanese economy after World Read more…
When companies operate in silos, different groups do what is best within the confines of their own world. Design engineers may create products that are appealing to the customer, look amazing, and may even be built like a tank with bulletproof quality. But this otherwise outstanding design may be extremely Read more…
A Design of Experiment (DOE) is the process of determine the interaction of KPIVs (Key Process Input Variables) on the output of a process. It attempts to quantify the relationship of the variables in order to optimize the settings for that process. A key point of the design of experiment Read more…
Diminishing returns happen when resource (time, effort, money, space) yields less output than it did at an earlier time. In math jargon, diminishing returns happen when the productivity curve starts to flatten out. Diminishing returns are essentially the inverse of the Pareto 80/20 Principle. Once the 80% of gains are Read more…
Unlike medical allergies, the Lean affliction of Dirt Allergies has no physical component to it. It is simply a condition in which people are extremely reluctant to get hands or clothing dirty. This condition is most common in leaders who are unwilling to get involved in production processes, or in Read more…
One of the basic tenets of continuous improvement is respect for people. A way to do this is to look for and eliminate the tasks that are dirty, dumb, or dangerous. Unfortunately, people have become used to doing tasks that have some or all of these components. Think of the Read more…
Discipline is the process of changing a behavior to make it conform to a rule or standard. For many people, discipline has a negative connotation to it, especially when it is their behavior that is being adjusted. In truth, though, discipline is more than repeating the standard and doling out Read more…
Discrete data is data that is countable, quantitative data. It is numerical in data, stemming from a physical count or measurement, and has a limited number of possible values. The number of wheels on a vehicle would be discrete data. Discrete data has the advantage of being easy to collect. Read more…
Disputes are disagreements or differences of opinion and can get heated. Disputes at work are frequently about the way a process should be performed. In Lean companies, the challenge is that processes are always changing. This provides multiple opportunities for disputes to arise. The good news is that most companies Read more…
DMAIC is an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. It provides a systematic way to approach a problem. Using the DMAIC methodology to structure a problem-solving effort helps prevent skipping steps, which can lead to poor solutions. While is seems foreign at first, when you look more closely at Read more…
The DMAIC cycle takes the DMAIC process one step further. It links the end of one project, the Control step, to the beginning of the next one (the Define step). The rationale behind linking DMAIC cycles together makes a lot of sense. When controls are applied to processes, deviations become Read more…
Document your process flow to get the most out of your Lean efforts. Recording your processes helps provide consistency in your output and spurs productivity improvements. It also promotes teamwork through knowledge sharing, and makes job rotation and cross-training possible. Documentation is simply the act of recording your process steps Read more…
Lean makes extensive use of the term flow. As a result, one of the most common teaching analogies Lean practitioners use is that of a meandering river being slowly but surely turned into a deep, straight, fast moving channel. That flow starts at the supplier and finishes at the customer. Read more…
DPMO is the abbreviation for defects per million opportunities. It is a metric commonly used in six sigma. Presumably, if you are engaged in an active process improvement effort, you will have made (or will eventually) make significant improvements to your quality. For that reason, it can be difficult to Read more…
When using drawers to store equipment, one expression stands out: Out of sight, out of mind. Things in a drawer tend to get piled up, misplaced, and forgotten about. Drawers take time to open and close, and slow down processes. They hide things. Bottom line: Drawers are fine for storage, Read more…
Most processes change over time. A car will age, and as it undergoes normal wear and tear, gas mileage will worsen. It won’t be an overnight change, but it will trend downward. This is drift. Processes, with no visible changes, often slowly perform differently. A fixture may loosen up over Read more…
Drum-Buffer-Rope is a production theory derived by Dr. Eli Goldratt in his book, The Goal. In it, he advocates production according to the pace set by a single machine (the drum) with linked production (the rope). He also promotes keeping a buffer in front of the machine that acts as Read more…
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a type of cognitive bias (creation of one’s own reality) in which people with limited skills or ability or knowledge tend to overestimate their actual performance level. In other words, this is the psychological term that explains the old adage, “You don’t know what you don’t Read more…