Glossary
A3 report: Toyota uses a tool called the A3 (named after the international paper size on which it fits) to convey information in a single page using bullet points, charts, and graphs. Toyota utilizes the tool to foster scientific thinking, to mentor, and to align individuals with the goals of the organization.
Andon: Andon is a Japanese term meaning “light” or “lamp.” In lean manufacturing, an andon refers to a tool that is used to alert and inform leaders of problems within their production process in order to immediately address the issue and prevent its recurrence. At Toyota, the andon is usually a cord that production team members are encouraged to pull to alert team leaders if they spot something that threatens safety, quality, or productivity. Equipment has automatic sensing and signaling built in.
CASE: Sometimes referred to as C.A.S.E., and meaning connectivity, autonomous, shared, and electrified. CASE refers to the next generation of vehicles that will be able to connect to outside systems; will be able to drive by themselves or with minimal human direction; will be used by multiple people rather than a single owner; and will use electrified power.
Continuous flow: The ideal state of flowing value at the rate of customer demand through the supply chain, through various people and processes, and to the customer with minimal information or material buffers.
5S: In Japanese, the five Ss are seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. Translated into English, they are, respectively:
1. Sort: Sort through items and keep only what is needed while relocating or disposing of what is not.
2. Straighten (orderliness): “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
3. Shine (cleanliness): The cleaning process often acts as a form of inspection that exposes abnormal and prefailure conditions that could hurt quality or cause machine failure.
4. Standardize (create rules): Develop systems and procedures to maintain and monitor the first three Ss.
5. Sustain (self-discipline): Maintaining a stabilized workplace is an ongoing process of continuous improvement as conditions change.
Gemba (genba): Gemba is one of the key principles of lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System. Gemba is roughly translated from the Japanese as “the real place.” In this sense, “real” refers to going to where the action is happening to study and understand the condition.
Genchi genbutsu: The actual place and actual thing. It’s the Toyota principle of teaching by going directly to the source to find the facts of a situation, to make correct decisions, to build consensus, and to achieve goals.
Hansei: Refers to the process of reflection to recognize one’s mistakes, feel sincerely concerned about them, and take appropriate steps to avoid their reoccurrence.
Heijunka: A Japanese word that roughly translates to “leveling.” Heijunka levels demand by type and quantity over a fixed period of time to create a smooth flow of work, reducing unevenness and overburden. It is the foundation for flow, pull, and standardized work.
Hoshin kanri: The management system that helps an organization to remain competitive year after year by keeping the entire organization aligned and focused on achieving well-defined and shared goals. It starts with the firm’s strategy and then several-year goals, and then cascades down vertically and horizontally so everyone has aligned objectives for each year. Individual improvement efforts should be aimed, not only at making the person more productive and effective, but at achieving the overall goals for the organization. The planning process and execution both provide opportunities for leaders to coach at each level and develop people.
Hourensou: A Japanese word made up of three parts: “hou” (hou koku—to report), “ren” (renroku—to give updates periodically), and “sou” (sou dan—to consult or advise). Toyota stresses the importance of sharing information at all levels of the organization as well as the importance of managers staying informed about the activities of their subordinates. As a result, Toyota managers strive to find efficient ways to get information fed to them and to give feedback and advice to help train and develop people. While there is no single methodology for accomplishing this, many Toyota executives ask their subordinates to give daily reports.
IoT (internet of things): The concept of connecting any device to the internet and to other connected devices. This includes everything from cell phones, coffeemakers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, and wearable devices, to manufacturing equipment and vehicles. Advanced systems use cameras and sensors to collect data and artificial intelligence to analyze the data and provide direction, for example, for maintenance of equipment.
Jidoka: A term that refers to a machine that has the capacity to stop itself whenever a problem is detected. By adding this intelligence to the machine, it frees up the operator to do value-added work and problem solving.
Just-in-time (JIT): A system of continuous flow that brings all materials and information in small lots to the point of use as they are needed—neither too early nor too late. This avoids waste including overproduction and creates a more efficient flow that quickly surfaces abnormalities so people can improve quality, cost, on-time delivery, and responsiveness to changes in customer demand.
Kaizen: A Japanese word meaning “change for the better” or “continuous improvement.” It is both a philosophy of striving for excellence and a method of iterative improvement following PDCA. It is a passionate focus that engages the entire organization.
Kanban: A scheduling system for just-in-time production that puts the customer in control of ordering materials and information directly as needed. The kanban itself is a binary signal of some type—manual, sound, lights, or electronics—that says “I am ready for more of this.”
Kata: Kata has two meanings. One is the form, or way of doing things. The second is the pattern of movements to be practiced in developing a fundamental skill. The improvement kata (IK) model (developed by Mike Rother) consists of four steps that reflect thinking scientifically about the direction, the current situation, short-term targets, and experiments. Practice routines have been developed for the coaching kata (CK) centered on a series of questions to help the coach keep the learner on track following the kata until thinking scientifically comes naturally.
Keiretsu: After World War II, the traditional structure of Japanese companies was upended. Most major companies reorganized as keiretsu, which translates to “lineage” or “grouping of enterprises,” and structured themselves in integrated groups, horizontal and vertical integration. The formal keiretsu was later banned as being monopolistic, but the close-knit business dealings continued.
Key performance indicators (KPIs): A common term in business that refers to a standard set of metrics used to evaluate performance. Key performance indicators are measurements and metrics that support and facilitate achieving critical goals of an organization. Toyota visually displays KPIs on graphs and charts and sets targets, for example through hoshin kanri, to motivate improvement activities.
Lean: Authors James Womack, Daniel Jones, and Daniel Roos introduced the term “lean manufacturing” in their book The Machine That Changed the World to describe the Toyota Production System. The authors describe lean as a superior paradigm that combines the best of mass production and craft production with the goal of improving productivity, reducing lead times, cutting operating costs, improving product quality, and providing safety and high morale for members.
Muda: Muda refers to waste, which is Toyota’s term for anything that takes time but does not add value for your customer. Seven types of common muda were identified in manufacturing: overproduction, waiting, unnecessary transport, overprocessing, excess inventory, unnecessary movement, and defects. This list has been modified by others for service and information industries.
Mura: Unevenness that results from an irregular production schedule or fluctuating production volumes due to internal problems, like downtime, missing parts, or defects. Unevenness in production levels makes it necessary to have on hand the equipment, materials, and people for the highest level of production—even if the average requirements are far less. And unevenness leads to too little work sometimes and overburden at other times.
Muri: Overburdening people or equipment. Muri is pushing a machine or person beyond natural limits. Overburdening people results in safety and quality problems. Overburdening equipment causes breakdowns and defects. In other words, muri can cause muda. And even worse, overburdening people can cause health and safety problems.
Nemawashi: An informal process of laying the foundation for a proposed change or project by talking to the people concerned and gathering support and feedback. The goal is to establish consensus and broad support for change by involving everyone impacted by the change before formally announcing the new initiative.
PDCA: The acronym for plan-do-check-act, or sometimes, plan-do-check-adjust. PDCA is a cornerstone of scientific thinking and is at the center of the process of continuous improvement.
Pull system: A pull system is designed to avoid overproduction. Under a pull system, after materials are used or purchased, a signal is sent to the preceding process step authorizing replacement or production of what is needed next. A common example of a pull system is a supermarket. When products are purchased in a grocery store, a vacant spot is created on the shelf. At a regular interval, a stockperson will check for quantities of goods removed and will replenish them. In manufacturing, the idea is the same: maintain small quantities of items that are needed and replenish only after reaching a trigger point.
Scientific thinking: Scientific thinking acknowledges our comprehension is incomplete so works to test ideas and learn from the tests. Toyota takes a fact-based, iterative learning approach to overcoming difficult challenges. Scientific thinking is at the center of the Toyota Way 4Ps: philosophy, process, people, and problem solving.
Sensei: Honored teachers who have achieved mastery in a certain area. A lean sensei has repeatedly demonstrated mastery at the gemba. Whether they are called a coach, teacher, mentor, or sensei, experts in lean have been instrumental in teaching the Toyota Production System within Toyota, particularly as it expanded among its suppliers and into other countries.
Standardized work: Standardized work allows for a repeatable process at the rate of customer demand and is integral to a smooth flow of work. By documenting the current best known way of performing the work, standardized work forms the baseline for kaizen, or continuous improvement. As the standard is improved, the new standard becomes the baseline for further improvements, and so on.
Toyota Business Practices (TBP): When Fujio Cho led the introduction of the Toyota Way in 2001, he realized that wasn’t enough to help employees to develop the mindset for continuous improvement and to learn how to respect and develop people. Within a few years, he introduced Toyota Business Practices—which, on the surface, was an eight-step problem-solving process. Cho did not set out to create a rigid problem-solving method that always has to be followed, but rather to use it as the framework for developing Toyota Way thinking through practice on real-world problems. The eight steps are:
1. Clarify the problem.
2. Break down the problem.
3. Set a target.
4. Analyze the root cause.
5. Develop countermeasures.
6. See countermeasures through.
7. Evaluate both results and process.
8. Standardize successful processes.
Toyota Production System (TPS): The Toyota Production System is Toyota’s unique approach to manufacturing and the basis for much of the lean production movement that has dominated manufacturing and service trends for the last 30 years or more. Led by Taiichi Ohno, TPS was constructed in a time of low demand and a high need for variety in Japan, which necessitated a manufacturing approach that allowed for quick changeovers, low inventories, and flexibility.
Based on the philosophies of jidoka and just-in-time, TPS can efficiently and quickly produce products of sound quality, one at a time, that fully satisfy customer requirements.
Value stream mapping: A method to understand the material and information flow in a sequence of work processes. The current-state map depicts how value flows to the customers and the various wastes that are obstacles to this flow. The future-state map is an aspirational vision of how material and information need to flow to achieve business objectives.
Visual management: An approach for quickly showing visually the current status of a process, procedure, or project and how that relates to the standard. Gaps are the focus of improvement.
Toyota has made an art form out of visual management. The Toyota Way recognizes that visual management complements humans because we are visually, tactilely, and audibly oriented.
Yokoten: A Japanese term that means “across everywhere” or “spread horizontally.” In the parlance of lean manufacturing, yokoten refers to the transfer of lean manufacturing knowledge and practices from one operation to another or laterally across the organization. Importantly, yokoten is not about replicating a process exactly; rather, it is meant to encourage managers to become aware of good practices, observe them, reflect upon them, and creatively utilize that knowledge to improve the functions they manage.