The Scottish Government

Flow:

The progressive completion of tasks along the value stream so that a product or service proceeds from design to launch, order to delivery, and raw materials into the hands of the customer with no stoppages, scrap or backflows.

Full Implementation:

The adoption of Lean across an entire organisation, to the extent that Lean practices become the norm. The process requires an integration of Lean with organisation strategy, usually achieved through a process of policy deployment. The timing, sequence and coordination of implementation activities are carefully planned to achieve the primary objective of a fully embedded Lean approach. Shorter-term targets take a secondary role.

Just-In-Time:

A system for producing and delivering the right items or services at the right time in the right amounts. Just-In-Time approaches just-on-time when upstream activities occur minutes or seconds before downstream activities, so single-piece flow is possible.

Kaizen:

Continuous, incremental improvement of an activity to create more value with less waste.

Kanban:

A signal, often a card attached to supplies or equipment that regulates pull by signalling upstream operation and delivery.

Lead time:

The total time a customer must wait to receive a product or service after requesting the product or service. In service sectors, it is the time from the beginning of the process to the end ( e.g. from when a patient arrives until he or she leaves the hospital).

Pull:

A system of cascading production and delivery instructions from downstream to upstream activities in which nothing is produced by the upstream supplier until the downstream customer signals a need; the opposite of push.

Event/ Kaizen Blitz:

Rapid Improvement is the engine for implementing the changes (physical and cultural) that a Lean approach requires.

Formal Rapid Improvement (Kaizen) events are 5 days long. In addition, there is a 2-3 week preparation period before each event and a 3-4 week follow up period after each event. During a Rapid Improvement (Kaizen) event, teams of employees focus on topics with the following agenda:

Standard work:

A precise description of each work activity specifying cycle time, takt time, the work sequence of specific tasks for each team member, and the minimum inventory of parts on hand needed to conduct the activity.

Day 1:

Initial training on the Rapid Improvement (Kaizen) tools, Identification of the current conditions, Application of the basic Rapid Improvement (Kaizen) tools, Brainstorm solutions, Start changes.

Day 2:

Continue waste identification, Brainstorming of solutions , Implement changes.

Day 3:

Run and debug the process, continue use and application of the Rapid Improvement (Kaizen) tools, Imprint new methods on front line staff

Day 4:

Debug, Document and Standardise on new method. Demonstrate continued regular operation of improvement results

Day 5:

Present results and review open issues.

Takt time:

The available operations time divided by the rate of customer demand. Takt time sets the pace of the operations (or process) to match the rate of customer demand and becomes the heartbeat of any lean system.

Throughout time:

The time required for a product or service to proceed from concept to launch, order to delivery, or raw materials into hands of the customer. This includes both processing and queue time.

Value:

A capability provided to the customer at the right time at an appropriate price, as defined in each case by the customer.

Value stream:

The specific activities required to design, order, and provide a specific product (or service) from concept launch to order to delivery into the hands of the customer.

Value stream mapping:

The identification of all the specific activities occurring along a value stream for a product or product family (or service).

Valuable:

In value stream mapping, step in a process is valuable if it creates value for the customer.

Waste:

Anything that does not add value to the final product or service, in the eyes of the customer; an activity the customer wouldn't want to pay for if they knew it was happening.