Operations

Processes, quality, capacity, bottlenecks, and everyday execution.

The step in a process or organization that limits the overall capacity and slows down the speed of the entire system.

A sequence of repeatable steps and actions taken to achieve a specific business outcome.

A detailed, step by step document that explains how to perform a routine business task.

A visual representation of the steps, inputs, outputs, and people involved in a business workflow.

The maximum amount of work or output that a business can produce in a given timeframe with its current resources.

The rate at which a system generates its final deliverables or sales over a specific period.

A continuous loop of planning, executing, measuring, and refining used for process improvement.

A Japanese business philosophy of continuous, incremental improvement involving all employees.

The physical place where the actual work happens, such as the factory floor or customer service area.

The Toyota principle of going to the source to find the facts and make correct decisions.

A systematic workplace organization method that uses five phases to organize and maintain a clean, efficient workspace.

An iterative interrogative technique used to explore the cause and effect relationships underlying a problem.

The principle that roughly eighty percent of consequences come from twenty percent of the causes.

A Japanese term for mistake-proofing any process to prevent human errors before they can occur.

A metric that measures how effectively a manufacturing or service delivery system is utilized relative to its full potential.