| Aimai |
|
Vague,
ambiguous. Used to describe a situation, layout or instruction
that is unclear and non-specific causing confusion. |
| Anshin |
|
Peace of mind.
Used to describe the condition where things are made
clear and a person's mind can rest easy from worry. |
| Hinshitsu |
|
Quality; it
also means natural. Quality is a natural or normal state.
Defects are an abnormal state. |
| Hiku |
|
Pull, drag,
draw stretch. The condition of completed work creating
a vacuum that draws the next unit to be worked on only
when it is needed. |
| Ijo |
|
Abnormal. Used
to describe a condition that is out of standard, or non-compliant. |
| Kaizen |
|
Kai
means to change, fix, make new, improved attitude.
Zen means the ideal state, correct, the natural way
of things, good, to make better. Loosely translated
means continuous improvement. |
| Keiken
Ga Nai |
|
Keiken
= experience, maturity. Ganai = does not have.
Keiken ganai =does not have experience or maturity.
Often used to describe people who think they know but
whose kaizen understanding is shallow and mechanical
rather than deep and spiritual. |
| Kino |
|
Function, by
truly understanding the function of something, one can
reduce it to its simplest form. |
| Monozukuri |
|
To produce
things. |
| Minomi |
|
Without packaging.
All I want is the meat of the nut not the shell. Just
the meat of the banana not the peel. The same applies
to work. I only want the thing, not the box or crate
that surrounds it. |
| Mieruka |
|
To make visible, for better management and control, to expose the reality for kaizen opportunities.
|
| Mizenboshi
|
|
Stop a problem
before it exists. To organize work so that if a problem
is going to occur it is detected before it happens and
countermeasures automatically take place to avoid the
problem. |
| Muda |
|
Wasteful, futile
useless. Activities that provide no value and only raise
cost. |
| Mura |
|
Unevenness,
inconsistent, irregular. Mura exists when workflow is
out of balance and workload is inconsistent and not
incompliance with the standard. |
| Muri |
|
Unreasonable,
impossible, overdoing and overburdened. For people,
Muri means too heavy a mental or physical burden. For
machinery Muri means expecting a machine to do more
than it is capable of or has been designed to do. |
| Nagare |
|
Flow, flowing
like a stream. In Kaizen the target is to make things
flow in a natural way, to make the work place come alive
where you can see its heart beat and feel its tempo. |
| Netsui |
|
Strong
spirit. Netsui is required to implement Kaizen as the
organization will naturally resist. To be successful
requires a strong spirit. |
| Nige Kojo
|
|
Evasive excuse.
It describes the condition when one doesn't want to
say no and instead gives a response that is non-committal,
knowing full well they are not going to comply with
a request. |
| Obeyaka
|
|
Big room for
cooperation. The term is used to describe the method
of getting affected people to work together cooperatively
to solve problems. |
| Ozappa
|
|
Rough, sketchy
unclear. Typically used to describe work instructions
or workplace flow that is non-specific and lacking
standard work. |
| Osu |
|
Shoving, pushing.
The condition that pushes work in advance of demand
and creates waste. |
| Seijo
|
|
Normal.
Used to describe a condition that is behaving as planned. |
| Sensei |
|
Teacher, Master, or Instructor.
|
| Taimingu |
|
Timing |
| Yamazumi |
|
A chart that shows work balance among
operators. It is used to make sure work
is evenly distributed and each operator
has a full day's work.
|
| Yoi-don
|
|
Ready set go.
Much like the start of a race. Often used to start the
timing of a simulation. This method is specificially used to find the process
bottleneck. |
| Yoshi |
|
Good, okay.
Usually used in simulations at the point of go-no-go
to signify a good workpiece can be transferred from
one transformational step to the next one. Yoshi is
said with vigor and strong spirit. |
| Zeikan |
|
Customs house.
Used in a derogatory way to describe activities that
add no value but impose costs, much like duty or taxes. |
