MEANING FOR JAPANESE WORDSIN

THE TOYOTA WAY

• ANDON- alarm system

• JIDOKA- gives the worker the ability to stop production when a defect is found, and

immediately call for assistance to solve problem

• Gemba - the place where the truth can be found

• Genchi Gembutsu - go and see for yourself

• Heijunka – Production levelling (Line Of Balancing)

• Kaizen – Continuos Improvement

• Kanban – Sign Board

• Muda – No value to the process or thing

• Mura – Inconsistency

• Muri – unreasonableness

• Poka-yoke – Fool proof system ( to avoid mistakes)

• Nemawashi - Implement Rapidly

• Hansei – Relentless Reflection

ANDON

• Andon is a manufacturing term referring to a system to notify management, maintenance, and other workers of a quality or process problem. The centrepiece is a signboard incorporating signal lights to indicate which workstation has the problem. The alert can be activated manually by a worker using a pullcord or button, or may be activated automatically by the production equipment itself. The system will include a means to stop production so the issue can be corrected. Modern alert systems will incorporate audio alarms and text or other displays.

• An Andon system is one of the principle elements of the Jidoka quality-control method pioneered by Toyota and now part of the Lean methodology. It gives the worker the ability to stop production when a defect is found, and immediately call for assistance. Common reasons for manual activation of the Andon are part shortage, defect created or found, tool malfunction, or the existence of a safety problem. Work is stopped until a solution has been found. The alerts may be logged to a database so that they can be studied as part of a continuous-improvement program.

• The system will typically indicate where the alert was generated, and may also provide a description of the trouble. Modern Andon systems can include text, graphics, or audio elements. Audio alerts may be done with coded tones, music with different tunes corresponding to the various alerts, or pre-recorded verbal messages.Usage of the word originated within Japanese manufacturing companies, and in English is a loanword from a Japanese word for a paper lantern.

JIDOKA

• Autonomation describes a feature of machine design to effect the principle of jidoka used in the Toyota Production System (TPS) and Lean manufacturing. It may be described as "intelligent automation" or "automation with a human touch." This type of automation implements some supervisory functions rather than production functions. At Toyota this usually means that if an abnormal situation arises the machine stops and the worker will stop the production line. Autonomation prevents the production of defective products, eliminates overproduction and focus attention on understanding the problem and ensuring that it never recurs. It is a quality control process that applies the following four principles:1. Detect the abnormality. 2. Stop. 3. Fix or correct the immediate condition. 4. Investigate the root cause and install a countermeasure

GEMBA

• The Japanese meaning is “the real place”. In business it  typically means “where value is created” and in lean manufacturing it means “the factory or shop floor”.  In Lean Six Sigma (LSS) it is common to hear the phrase “Going to Gemba” (meaning the real place where the work is being done).  This is also sometimes referred to as process mapping.

• The reason this is an important word which inherits a lot of ideas from LSS and the “Theory of Constraints” (TOC) and both LSS and TOC are heavily focused on global optimization (seeing the big picture).  Improving the whole and not just focusing on the parts is a core tenant of both LSS and TOC.  Understanding bottlenecks and flow is an important part of understanding the “Value Stream”.

• “Going to Gemba” is very important to actually see the flow first hand and not just by word of mouth.  We need to walk the Gemba in order to determine how it can be improved by

• a) eliminating waste (Muda) and• b) minimizing irregularities, inconsistencies or variation (Mura).

GENCHI GENBUTSU

• Genchi Genbutsu means "go and see for yourself" and it is an integral part of the Toyota Production System. It refers to the fact that any information about a process will be simplified and abstracted from its context when reported. This has often been one of the key reasons why solutions designed away from the process seem inappropriate.

HEIJUNKA

• Heijunka is Japanese term that refers to a system of production smoothing designed to achieve a more even and consistent flow of work. Heijunka as a concept is closely related to lean production and just in time manufacturing.

• Heijunka means two different, but related, things. One is the leveling of production by volume. The other is leveling production by product type or mix.

KAIZEN

• Kaizen as an “improvement,” or “change for the better” which refers to a philosophy or practices that focus on continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, game development, and business management.

• Kaizen is a daily process, each day is better then the last.  Kaizen is also rooted in the idea that it is much more than just simple productivity improvement. When done right it’s about humanizing the workplace and eliminating overly hard work (muri).  Kaizen also teaches people how to apply the scientific method and learn how to spot and eliminate waste.

• Kaizen play a huge role in a sense of improvement in the flow.  Finding variation (bugs, performance issues) late in the flow and engineering them earlier in the process.  Also, Kaizen is also about continuously optimizing for the whole by neglecting bottlenecks.

KANBAN

• In Japanese Kanban means “signboard” or “tavern keeper’s final call for orders before taking the sign down.”  Kind of a “last call.” Taiichi Ohno, the father of Toyota Production System (TPS), which later became Lean Manufacturing, used Kanban as a means to achieve “Just in Time” (JIT) production systems.  Kanban cards were used to signal when to replenish and order new material as a way to control inventory and flow.

• In 2007 David J Anderson helped define what is now known today as the Kanban Method, focusing more on software delivery patterns rather than the original TPS manufacturing models.  Today Kanban is a valuable tool used by many agile teams.  Kanban is also an instrumental tool in many DevOps focused organizations.  Some of the key ideas behind Kanban are the ideas of a) Kanban as a pull system, b) visualizaing workflow to help improve throughput and c) putting Work in Process (WIP) limits on specific types of work.

• The reason Kanban has found a lot of it’s popularity is because Kanban works very well in operations or service oriented groups e.g., highly interrupt driven. 

MUDA

• Muda is waste.  According to Taichi Ohno of Toyota (father of Toyota Production Systems or what is called Lean) any activity that does not add value is considered waste.  Taichi Ohno identified the famous Seven forms of waste (Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over-processing, Over-production and  Defects).  The idea is to classify all activities into two categories: activities that add value and ones that don’t.

• Eliminating waste is a key principle. 

MURA

• Mura means inconsistency or excess variation. When work is not standardized it can add waste in the form of  wasted movement (e.g., not having clear process and procedures defined).  Mura can lead to quality issues.

• One of the core principles of Kanban as described is making process policies explicit.  Kanban is an excellent tool for reducing Mura.  One could argue that configuration management tools like Chef, Puppet and CFEngine control Mura by making processes for installing and configuring systems standardized.  In may ways Lean is about eliminating waste (muda) and Six Sigma is about reducing variation (Mura). 

MURI

• Muri is the third form of waste as as described by the Toyota Production System (TPS) along with (Muda and Mura).  In Japanese the term literally means overburden, unreasonableness, or absurdity.  Muri represents the activities where processes, people, or machines are pushed beyond a reasonable limit.

• An organization with Muri is more likely to have increased stress levels and reduced job satisfaction.  Organizations that are continually operating at capacity tend and have less flexibility and longer lead times.   Many organizations try to combat Muri by building slack into their environment. Things like hack days, innovation days, and just percentage free time (e.g., Google 20% time) all help to reduce Muri.

POKA-YOKE

• Means fail-safing or mistake proofing. Poke-yoke is used in manufacturing to eliminate defects and help draw attention to human errors.  The term was adopted by Shigeo Shingo as part of Toyota Production Systems (TPS).

• A great example of a real world poka-yoke is when your ice maker in your freezer shuts off when the bucket is full thus making sure your freezer doesn’t fill up with ice.  Most people would agree that a majority of the related opportunities are based on human activities.  Software and operational engineering are human endeavors and poka-yoke’ing an infrastructure is one the goals.  Test Driven Development (TDD) is an example of “software poka-yoke.”  Operational self service offerings or a PaaS is another form of Poka-yoke.  Monitoring is a great example of Poka-yoke in that it looks for errors in a system before they occur.

NEMAWASHI

• Nemawashi in Japanese culture is an informal process of quietly laying the foundation for some proposed change or project, by talking to the people concerned, gathering support and feedback, and so forth. It is considered an important element in any major change, before any formal steps are taken, and successful nemawashi enables changes to be carried out with the consent of all sides.

• Nemawashi literally translates as “going around the roots”, from (ne, root) and (mawasu, to go around [something]). Its original meaning was literal: digging around the roots of a tree, to prepare it for a transplant.Nemawashi is often cited as an example of a Japanese word which is difficult to translate effectively, because it is tied so closely to Japanese culture itself, although it is often translated as 'laying the groundwork.'

HANSEI

• Hansei is a central idea in Japanese culture. Its means to acknowledge your own mistake and to pledge improvement. "Self-awareness is the first step to improvement".

• In the hansei process, the emphasis is on what went wrong and on creating clear plans for ensuring that it does not reoccur; this is done constantly and consistently. At Toyota, even if you do a project successfully, there is still a hansei-kai (reflection meeting) to review what went wrong. If a manager or engineer claims that there were not any problems with the project, they will be reminded that “no problem is a problem” – in other words, you have not objectively and critically evaluated the project to find opportunities for improvement. No problems indicate that you did not stretch to meet (or exceed) your expected capacity.

• An example would be the actions of Japanese politicians involved in corruption. They apologize publicly for the inappropriate action, then remove themselves from public politics for a few years. They resume their career after a culturally accepted period of time where they learned their lesson.

• In Japanese companies it is common practice for a manager to expect hansei from his subordinates in case of mistakes. The manager will publicly take the blame, while the department works on solving the problem.

The 5S’s are:

• Seiri : Sorting. Refers to the practice of going through all the tools, materials, etc., in the work area and keeping only essential items. Everything else is stored or discarded. This leads to fewer hazards and less clutter to interfere with productive work.

• Seiton: Simplifying. Focuses on the need for an orderly workplace. "Orderly" in this sense means arranging the tools and equipment in an order that promotes work flow. Tools and equipment should be kept where they will be used, and the process should be ordered in a manner that eliminates extra motion.

• Seisō : Sweeping, Systematic Cleaning, or Shining. Indicates the need to keep the workplace clean as well as neat. Cleaning in Japanese companies is a daily activity. At the end of each shift, the work area is cleaned up and everything is restored to its place, making it easy to know what goes where and to know when everything is where it should be are essential here. The key point is that maintaining cleanliness should be part of the daily work - not an occasional activity initiated when things get too messy.

• Seiketsu : Standardizing. This refers to standardized work practices. It refers to more than standardized cleanliness (otherwise this would mean essentially the same as "systemized cleanliness"). This means operating in a consistent and standardized fashion. Everyone knows exactly what his or her responsibilities are. In part this follows from Seiton where the order of a workplace should reflect the process of work, these imply standardised work practice and workstation layout.

• Shitsuke : Sustaining. Refers to maintaining and reviewing standards. Once the previous 4S's have been established they become the new way to operate. Maintain the focus on this new way of operating, and do not allow a gradual decline back to the old ways of operating. However, when an issue arises such as a suggested improvement or a new way of working, or a new tool, or a new output requirement then a review of the first 4S's is appropriate