As with everything its good to establish common terminology, this is especially true when thinking in lean terms. Lean has been in manufacturing ever since the 1950s commonly know as the Toyota Manufacturing Process. Let's start out our understanding of lean by becoming familiar with some of the Japanese terms.
- Andon - refers to a visual tool which gives a current status. A change in color signals a quality or process problem. Typically the signals are those of the stoplight - green=good, yellow=caution, red=stopped.
- Genchi Genbutsu - means to go check out the problem your self. There are always many sides to a story, when hearing about an issue. It is probably worth your time to check out the problem yourself.
- Hansei - is all about acknowledging your mistakes and committing to improvement. The concept refers to looking for problems within oneself through self-reflection.
- Jidoka - refers to "Automation with the human touch." The key concept is that defects are discovered and removed before proceeding to the next step of the process.
- Kaizen - references the continuing process improvement which focuses on assuring there is value and minimizing waste.
- Kanban - refers to signaling system indicating where an item is within the process. When grouping items on the board, process bottlenecks are easily identified.
- Muda - refers to an wasteful activity which does not contribute to the desired outcome.
- Mura - relates to the inconsistency or unevenness of a process, the variation.
- Muri - references the overburden, unreasonableness or absurdity which may exist in the culture or process.
- Poka-yoke - is the value added quality step in a process which helps to prevent mistakes. This quality step is focused on proactively preventing errors.
Hopefully you enjoyed this post, you may also want to check out:
- The four key approaches of Lean Six Sigma for Healthcare
- Understanding Healthcare's Seven Categories of Waste
- How to do a waste walk with Strategic Intent
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Welcome to the Healthcare IT Project Management Blog of Elyse Nielsen. This is the place where I share the ideas I have learned, the things I’d like to remember, and my thoughts for a brighter future. Find out more.
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