Dictionary


Value Stream Mapping
(VSM)
  • Value stream mapping includes all of the activities required to produce a product or to process a service from the beginning to the end.
  • Value stream map is a graphical presentation of individual processes included in a value stream, which enables one to understand and observe the flow of products, documents, and information in the process of producing goods/services.
  • Mapping stages: preparation, current status map, future status map, plan of implementation of established vision of the future status.

Kaizen

From the Japanese words ‘Kai’ – change, ‘Zen’ – good. This is a continuous improvement, enhancement. Kaizen consists in involving all of the company’s employees, disregarding the position, in the continuous search for ideas to improve all of the areas of the organization. The process aims at eliminating problems, preventing the occurrence of problems in the future and also at the creation of innovative solutions.


Lean Management

Lean Management is the most commonly implemented system, designed to simplify and improve the flow of information related to key production and service indicators. The scope of the Lean Management system includes the flow of information, starting from simple results achieved by single processes, through review of the results and corrective measures taken on the level of individual departments, up to the level of the factory or service centre.


SMED
(Single Minute Exchange of Die)

The method is designed to reduce the time for conversion through the rationalization of set-up activities. The name is derived from the first letters of English words: Single Minute Exchange of Die. The conversion itself does not add the value of the product and must be perceived as a waste. Conversion is divided into two groups about activity regarding conversion:

  • Internal – these are activities that are possible to be performed (may be performed) only when the machine is not working
  • External – these are activities that are possible to be performed without stopping the machine: in other words, when the machine is working.

There are four stages of the method implementation:

  1. Preparing
  2. Differentiating between internal and external conversion
  3. Transforming the internal conversion to an external one
  4. Rationalizing all aspects of conversion