Want to sound like a lean manufacturing expert. Here is a primer on important terms.

Andon lights / boards: A visual control device in a production area.

Autonomation: Automation with a human touch. Refers to semi-automatic processes where the operator and machine work together. Autonomation allows man-machine separation. Also referred to as Jidoka. 

Balanced production: All operations or cells produce at the same cycle time. In a balanced system, the cell cycle time is less than takt time.

Error-proofing: Designing a potential failure or cause of failure out of a product or process.

Flow manufacturing: A manufacturing methodology that pulls items from suppliers through a synchronized manufacturing process to the end product. The principle goal is faster response to customer demand.

Hoshin Kanri: A strategic planning approach that integrates the practices of leadership with the practices of management.

Kaizen: Japanese term for incremental improvement. A team approach to quickly tear down and rebuild a process layout to function more efficiently.

Kanban: Techniques named after the Japanese word for card or communication. Stocking technique using containers, cards and electronic signals to make production systems respond to real needs, not predictions and forecasts.

Just-in-Time (JIT): Manufacturing method where downstream operations pull required parts needed from upstream operations at the required time. Implementing JIT requires most features of lean manufacturing.

Mistake-proofing: Any change to an operation that helps the operator reduce or eliminate mistakes.

Muda: Anything that interrupts the flow of products and services through the value stream and out to the customer is designated muda, or waste.

One-piece flow: Producing one unit at a time, as opposed to producing in large lots.

Poka-Yoke: Techniques to mistake-proof a process. 

Six Sigma: A structured process improvement program for achieving virtually zero defects (3.4 parts per million) in manufacturing and business processes.

Standard operations: Clearly defined operations and standardized steps for both workers and machines.

Takt time: Takt is German for pace. Takt time defines the manufacturing line speed and the cycle times for all manufacturing operations. Takt time is computed as: available worktime per day / daily required demand (parts/day).

Value Stream Mapping: A process to determine the value added to a product as it goes through a manufacturing process.

Sources include: Todd Phillips, Advanced Manufacturing; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Rutherford Associates Inc.; AMR Research; University of Alabama-Huntsville Manufacturing Extension Program; AIS Technologies; Dr. Thomas Jackson, Productivity Inc.

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