Better Results provides you with the tools to produce change in the workplace. We want you to be successful in your endeavor to facilitate the LEAN Enterprise / Lean Sigma processes you want to put in place.

These links connect you to resources to help make that possible.

Please utilize these resources to help you achieve the Better Results you desire.

Lean/Kaizen Toolbox Terminology

Lean/Kaizen Toolbox Terminology

The most commonly used terms and definitions in the Lean / Kaizen methodology.

5 M’s

The total set of resources that have to be present at any work area to enable the process to be done correctly the first time
Man, Material, Methods, Measurements and Machines.

5 S’

Five words that refer to systematically cleaning up and maintaining a clean, efficient working environment. The 5 steps are: Select & Sort, Straighten & Store, Scrub & Clean, Standardize, Systematize or Spread.

Business Plan

The process of reviewing historical info, analyzing current trends and results and projecting into the future a desired specific set of outcomes. The business plan then outlines a chosen course of actions steps to achieve those goals and results within the desired timeframe.

Communication

Any and all means to communicate information to update, notify, share and celebrate the successes and failures, and the opportunities of the organization.

Continuous Improvement

The commitment to creating a better product, work environment and business, every day.

Cost

The result of how well the resources of the organization are organized, managed and utilized to produce the products and services the customer is willing to pay for.

Customer (external)

This is who determines “Value” and how much it is worth. Meeting and exceeding Customer expectations determines the level of customer satisfaction, which in turn allows the focus of the sales and marketing to grow revenues and gain market share.

Customer Requirements

The requirements as defined by the real customer (the next person or process that gets the work just completed)
the internal or external customer.
Building the Future Today (Parthenon) Slide

Data Collection & Information Flow

The procedures and processes that collect data from many different sources and converts the data into Information to be used for evaluating results and trends, making decisions and ultimately used in long-term strategic planning.”

Delivery

Meeting the customer requirements of “Just-in-Time” at the lowest cost possible. That is giving the customer what they want, when they want it (not before, not partials and not late) and it must work as expected, the first time every time.

Education

Training
Coaching
The different methods of building overall job skills, job competencies and the individual’s commitment to learning and improving themselves and the organization

Education and Training

Building skills and competencies while nurturing and growing the commitment of all to contribute their best for the good of the organization.

Employee Involvement & Teamwork

The key to long-term success of any organization and the most critical factor of “Continuous Improvement” of the processes, products / services, and the people of that organization.

Express Train

A model process to determine and document the fastest way a product or service can be provided with minimized constraints, bottlenecks or hindrances.

FMEA

Failure Mode Effect Analysis
Risk elimination by focusing on and evaluating a system, design, process, or service for possible ways in which failures can occur.

Inventory

Usually the highest cost category, inventory is all raw materials, purchased parts, work-in-progress and finished goods that are not yet sold to a customer.

JIT

A system of managing production processes that results in producing and delivering the right items at the right time in the right amounts.

Kaizen

A combination of two Japanese words Kai (change) and Zen (good). Usually defined as “continuous improvement.”

Kanban

A communication signal in the Just-in-Time production and inventory control system. A KANBAN, or signboard (they may also be parts bins) accompanies specific parts in the production line signifying the delivery of a given quantity. When the parts have all been used, the sign or bin is returned to its origin, where it becomes an order for more. KANBANS are essential parts of the “Pull System” of production.

Leadership

An essential part of world class performance. Organizational leaders must shape the culture and establish a vision, communicate that vision to the people and provide the systems, tools, and skills necessary to accomplish it.

Lean

Using the minimum amount of total resources
man, materials, money, machines, etc.
to produce a product or service and deliver it on time.

Load Leveling

A method of production scheduling that, over a period of time, takes the fluctuation of customer demand out of manufacturing. Producing every part, every day. This requires more investment in inventory than “Pull” but can raise capital and labor utilization rates. (There is a “cost trade off” with load leveling.)

Machine Management

A set of tools aimed at creating equipment reliability and predictability.

Material Flow

A set of tools that measure and adjust production according to actual consumption, this producing only what is needed and when it is needed.

Poke-yoke

A mistake-proofing device or procedure to prevent a defect from being produced.

Process Management

A set of tools that measure a process to show or predict when a process is going “Out of Control” thus making the invisible effects of process breakdown visible.

Production Management

A set of tools to create balanced production schedule and just enough inventory to satisfy customer demand in a timely manner.

Pull Systems

A process that only produces what the “Customer” specified and only delivers on time what the customer (Internal and external) ordered
nothing more nothing less! It “pulls” from upstream operations at a rate determined by the actual consumption patterns rather than the forecasted level with no capacity constraints considered.

Quality

Although there are many definitions, two are of key importance. The first has to do with customer satisfaction
– “Any product or service that continually delights the customer.” The second definition refers to the internal processes of an organization that serves internal customers
– “The continual elimination of waste in, and improvement of, every process.” It is only when Quality is understood in this latter sense that companies can deliver higher quality, lower cost, and on-time delivery simultaneously.

Quick Changeover

A process used to reduce the downtime that occurs when any machine’s changeover of materials or tooling.

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a statistical measure of process capability that lets you measure the quality of your business’ products and services. A level of Six Sigma (about 3 defects per every million) represents the highest quality: virtually all products and business processes are defect-free.

SMED

Single Minute Exchange of Dies
The measure of time from the last good part to the first good part on the new set-up accomplished in anything less than 10 minutes.

SPC

The use of statistical tools (Pareto Charts, Histograms, Check Sheets, Control Charts, Scatter Plots, Cause-and-Effect Diagrams, etc.) to ensure that machines, materials, measures are within acceptable tolerances, or to solve quality problems through the use of those tools.

Strategic Plan

The future long-term desired outcome(s) (1 year, 5 year, 10 year, etc.) and a detailed path with KFI’s (Key Functional Indicators) or Milestones identified along the way to achieving those specified goals and results.

Strategic Planning

The process of reviewing historical information, analyzing current trends and results and projecting into the future a desired outcome and then creating a path to achieve those goals and results.

Supply Chain Management

Designing cross-functional processes and creating customer and supplier partnerships for mutual advantage such as lower total inventories, shorter delivery lead times, reduced quality costs and greater service value to the marketplace. Also, inter-company supply chain improvements are to be included.

Support Systems

Any and all processes (PM/Receiving Inspection) and systems (Management, Payroll) that adds cost without “adding value” to the product or service.

System

An interdependent combination of processes utilized to deliver a specified result.

Throughput

The rate at which the entire system generates money.

TPM

Aims at maximizing equipment effectiveness throughout the entire life of the equipment. It involves such basic elements as a routine maintenance system, education in basic housekeeping, problem-solving skills, and activities to achieve zero breakdowns.

Value-Added Activities

Any series of activities that transforms a product or service to meet the customer requirements.

Value Analysis

Evaluating the total lead-time and value-added time to identify the percentage spent in value added activities.

Value Stream Map

A visual picture of how all materials, all resources, and all information flows from suppliers, through manufacturing, to the customer. It includes calculations of total cycle time and value-added time. Typically written for the current state of the value chain and the future, to indicate where the business is going. It is the base drawing map to create the “To-Be” desired environment since it captures all aspects of the current situation.

Visual Workplace

System enabling anyone to quickly spot abnormalities in the workplace, regardless of their knowledge of the process. It includes the presentation of a wide variety of information that may pertain to jobs themselves, to the business as a whole, to how work teams are progressing on a project.

Workstation

The recipient (person, process, or department) of another person or department’s output (product, service or information) within an organization.

The Better Results Book Store

You can purchase any of these books directly from Amazon.com by clicking on each book’s title!

	The Eternally Successful Organization : The Art of Corporate Wellness The author of Quality Is Free offers his proven, step-by-step program for keeping a company fiscally fit, discussing the histories of great companies who have benefited from his program.	Philip B. Crosby
	Lateral Thinking The seminal book that introduced a new way of reasoning and decision making. “Dr. de Bono does not claim to be able to turn us all into Miltons, Da Vincis, and Einsteins. . . . The Muse never appears to most of us–hence the value of this book.”–Times Educational Supplement	Edward Debono
	Moments of Truth Jan Carlzon, the then president of Scandinavian Airlines System, tells the extraordinary story of turning a lacklustre state-run airline into a profitable business that consistently won passenger preference surveys.	Jan Carlzon
	No Contest: The Case Against Competition Updated for the 1990s, the award-winning book that stands as the definitive critique of competition. Kohn says that contrary to accepted wisdom, competition is not basic to “human nature,” but actually poisons our relationships, damages our self-esteem, and holds us back from doing our best.	Alfie Koh
	In Search of Excellence A New York Times Bestseller for over three years To discover the secrets of the art of management, Peters and Waterman studied more than 43 successful American companies. The companies specialized in a number of areas: consumer goods, high technology, and services. What he discovered was that regardless of how different each company was, they shared eight basic principles of management that anyone can use on their way to success.	Thomas J. Peters & Robert II
	Strategy of the Dolphin Your dolphin personality — flexible, responsive, accepting — represents precisely the attitude that successful managers must adopt. In Strategy of the Dolphin, the authors, innovative business experts, demonstrate that everyone will need to be a dolphin to survive the changes the future will bring.	Dudley Lynch & Paul Kor
	Superlearning A compilation of fast, fun, and innovative learning techniques enable one to master any skill or subject–from computers to athletics to conversational French–in a fraction of traditional learning time, forever changing the way one thinks about learning.	Sheila Ostrander & Lynn Schroeder
	The Double Win/ Success is a Two Way Street	Denis Waitley
	The Evolution of Cooperation The much-discussed book that explores how cooperation can emerge in a world of self-seeking egoists–whether superpowers, businesses, or individuals–when there is no central authority to police their actions.	Robert Axelrod
	The Greatest Salesman in the World First published in 1968, Og Mandino’s classic remains an invaluable guide to a philosophy of salesmanship. Mandino’s clear, simple writing style supports his purpose: to make the principles of sales known to a wide audience.	Og Mandino
	The One Minute Manager The One-Minute Manager, adapted from Blanchard’s classic book which sold more than a million copies, is a parable about a young man in search of world-class management skills. The authors’ message is so simple it’s brilliant: a “One-Minute Manager” achieves positive results with a minimum of time.	Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson
	The One Minute Salesperson The book is designed to give the concept of “sales” a simple perspective. Big time sales folks would have you believe that there is a sense of mystery associated with sales, or that it is somehow magic. This book brings the entire concept down to simple levels, and points out how much of everyday life for ALL OF US… is sales. Whether one sells products, organizations, or sells oneself, it’s ALL sales.	Spencer Johnson & Larry Wilson
	The Third Wave This book attempts to explain the both the nature and the process of the technological revolution that has transformed the world’s social and economic systems. To quote Newt Gingrich, US Speaker of the House of Representatives, “Alvin and Heidi Toffler have given us the key to viewing current disarray within the positive framework of a dynamic, exciting future.”	Alvin Toffler
	Unlimited Power Anthony Robbins calls it the new science of personal achievement. You’ll call it the best thing that ever happened to you. If you have ever dreamed of a better life, Unlimited Power will show you how to achieve the extraordinary quality of life you desire and deserve, and how to master your personal and professional life.	Anthony Robbins
	Use Both Sides of Your Brain Using the latest research on the workings of the human brain, Buzan provides step-by-step exercises for discovering the powers of the right side of the brain and learning to use the left side more effectively.	Tony Buzan
	What They Don’t Teach You at the Harvard Business School Mark McCormack is the founder of International Management Group, a multimillion-dollar, worldwide corporation that is a consultant to fifty Fortune 500 companies, a major producer of television programming and credited as the single most important influence in turning sports into big business. Listen to McCormack as he tells you how to — read people — create the right first impression — take the leading edge -run and attend meetings — the secrets of successful selling and moving up within the organization.	Mark H. McCormack
	What They Still Don’t Teach You at the Harvard Business School A straight-talking must-read of powerful strategies for every executive headed for the top. Written in the same no-nonsense, hard-hitting manner that McCormack brings to his own fast-paced business and management style, this is mandatory reading for executives on every rung of the corporate ladder.	Mark H. McCormack
	Kaizen For the professional manager or student of management, a comprehensive handbook of 16 Kaizen management practices that can be put to work. KAIZEN uses more than 100 examples in action and contains 15 corporate case studies	Masaaki Imai
	Lean Thinking In The Machine That Changed the World (1990), Womack and Jones, along with Daniel Roos, lauded the manufacturing technique used by Japanese automakers, known as “lean production” and also as the Toyota Production System. Lately, though, some critics have argued that “lean production” has been used…	James Womack
	Selling the Dream Steve Jobs, president, NeXT Computer “Clearly expresses what it took us years of mistakes to learn. I would have paid many times the cover price to read it ten years ago.”	Guy Kawasaki
	The Fifth Discipline Peter Senge, founder of the Center for Organizational Learning at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, experienced an epiphany while meditating one morning back in the fall of 1987. That was the day he first saw the possibilities of a “learning organization” that used “systems thinking” as the primary..	Peter Senge
	Gemba Kaizen When it comes to making your business more profitable and successful, don’t look to re-engineering for answers. A better way is to apply the concept of kaizen, which mean making simple, common-sense improvements and refinements to critical business processes.The result: greater productivity,…	Masaaki Imai
	Introduction to Tpm: Total Productive Maintenance Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) combines preventive maintenance with Japanese concepts of total quality control (TQC) and total employee involvement (TEI).	Seiichi Nakajima
	The Goal “A survey of the reading habits of managers found that though they buy books by the likes of Tom Peters for display purposes, the one management book they have actually read from cover to cover is The Goal.”	Goldratt & Cox
	Implementing World Class Manufacturing This is a “hands-on, how-to” guide to making significant improvements in a manufacturing plant. Uniquely written in a step-by-step format for both managers and operators, Implementing World Class Manufacturing allows everyone in a facility to participate in making the business the best at what it…	Rubrich & Watson
	E-myth Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited should be required listening for anyone thinking about starting a business or for those who have already taken that fateful step. The title refers to the author’s belief that entrepreneurs–typically brimming with good but distracting ideas–make poor…	Michael Gerber
	Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, “Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?” In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets.	Jim Collins
	Lean Six Sigma : Combining Six Sigma Quality with Lean Production Speed The Breakthrough Program for Increasing Quality, Shortening Cycle Times, and Creating Shareholder Value In Every Area of Your Organization Time and quality are the two most important metrics in improving any company’s production and profit performance.	Michael George