
Jargon Buster
The world of C.I. is full of technical jargon. This explains some common words in everyday language. There are numerous web sites that can give more detailed explanations.
3c
Three questions to address in order to correct a problem; Concern, Cause, Countermeasure
5s
Organising your workplace in 5 easy steps, sort, set in order, shine, standardise, sustain
80 / 20 rule
80 percent of your outcomes come from 20 percent of your inputs - see Pareto
Attribute data
One of two values e.g. yes or no, black or white
Balanced scorecard
An approach that translates strategy into performance metrics around finance, customers, process and learning
Baseline
A measure of how your organisation or process works now
Benchmarking
Comparing performance, usually against best in class
Business process management (BPM)
a holistic approach to improving workflow, streamlining and aligning all aspects processes with customer requirement
Categorical data
Data that can be grouped into categories
Continuous data
Data that can take any value such as time, height ( see discrete data )
Control charts (Shewhart charts)
A chart that shows if a process is in control
Core competencies
What an organisation, individual or team does best
Culture
What defines the character of the organisation made up of elements including : values, vision, rituals and routines, symbols, structures
CTQ
What your customer considers to be critical to quality
Customer Service Excellence
A standard and framework to support organisations develop high standards of customer service
Cycle Time
The period required to complete one cycle of an operation
Deming cycles
Plan, do, check, act
Discrete data
Anything that can be measured exactly as a whole number such a the number of people
EFQM
A non prescriptive model that considers 9 areas of activity with two lenses 1) what enabled a change 2) what were the performance results
Failure demand
Work product that doesn't meet customer need; resulting in additional work
Failure modes effect analysis (FMEA)
A systematic approach to identifying and measuring the impact of process failure and measuring the improvements that result from mitigating actions
First in first out (FIFO)
Items are removed or processed in the same order they are received
Gemba
Going to where value is created e.g. the workplace
Genchi Genbutsu
Go and look in order to understand the problem
Hansei
Reflect, look back and learn
Hoshin Kanri
Strategic and operational planning organisation wide
Hypothesis test
A test applied to statistically determine if an outcome happened by chance or not
Huddles
Short and periodic meetings to disseminate key information and agree action plans
Inventory waste
Resource, materials that are under-utilised
Ishikawa Diagram
A structured way to brainstorm and capture cause and effect, also known as Fishbone due to the shape
Kaizen
Incremental improvements to reduce waste
Kaizen Event or Blitz
A short structured problem solving event where the team spends 100% of their time identifying ways to improve the process
Kanban
A method of pulling work through a system so the downstream process signals the upstream process to replace what has been used
Kamishibai board
A board that shows on a red card what tasks are to do, by when and how, once complete the card is turned around to green
Kipling
Understand a problem by asking- what? where? why? when? who?
KPI
A defined set of key and business critical values used to understand progress towards strategic objectives (see PI)
Lead Time
The total processing time from order to delivery
Muda
Anything that does not add value, in other words waste
Muri
Waste due to unevenness or variation
OODA loop
Observe, orient, decide then act
PDCA
Taking a considered approach to change; plan, do, check, act
Pareto Chart
A combined bar and line graph to show frequency or occurrence and overall cumulative impact helping to identify the 20% of the process that causes 80% of the problem - see 80/ 20 rule
Performance board
A board displayed in the workplace and regularly updated to show performance
PI
A quantitative or qualitative measure by which performance levels can be assessed (see KPI)
Poka yoke
A system to prevent errors
Qualitative data
Descriptive information
Quantitative data
Numerical information
Quality function deployment (QFD)
A matrix use to plot and rank product and service features to understand what is critical to the customer
Stakeholder mapping
Map stakeholders, their level of interest and influence in your work and how you should best manage them
Standard deviation
A measure that tells you how much variation there is in your process
Statistical process control
Monitoring performance outputs over time to monitor if output is in control
Supply chain
Every stakeholder in your product /service from customer to delivery
RTY / RFPY
The % output that passes through a process step right first time
RACI
A tool to define who are responsible, accountable, needs to be consulted or Informed
TIB
Team information board
Total productive maintenance
Keeping equipment well maintained to prevent it from failing
TRIZ
A matrix that can be used to identify innovative solutions
Value Stream Map
Process map that captures information and process flows and performance data
Visioning
Understanding where you want your organisation to be and the steps you need to take to get there
Visual management
Display of information so it is visible and understandable at a glance
Voice of the customer
What the customer wants; the customer could be internal or external
WIP
Work that is waiting to be processed
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