Manufacturing glossary of terms
Unlock the secrets of manufacturing with our glossary of terms developed over 40 years by George Donaldson, Shingo Prize recipient! Take a deep dive into industry jargon. Don't wait! Master your industry knowledge NOW!
The story of how this glossary was created and has evolved, in the words of author George Donaldson.
This glossary’s roots began in 2010 when I worked with Newsprinters Eurocentral Ltd. I noticed less emphasis on the practice and principles of Organisational Excellence in manufacturing and more on the language used to describe them.
Of course, people then became concerned about learning vast amounts of new words rather than paying attention to what they meant. Many terms also came about in the 1950s, and their original definitions weren’t applicable today. What we needed was a single reference point – a glossary. So, that’s what I created.
As I moved away from Newsprinters Eurocentral Ltd and worked with other businesses, I expanded the glossary to include all models and other tools and techniques. I was teaching courses in Continuous Improvement and realised manufacturing needed to be demystified; students were often overwhelmed with various acronyms.
Then, as manufacturing became about more than just improvement – and about leadership, management, and psychology too – the glossary grew once more. It now includes theories from the likes of Maslow, Herzberg, and McGregor, and even modern theorists such as Sinek. I’ve also included the GROW model to reflect manufacturing’s focus on developing people through coaching and mentoring.
Manufacturing is much more holistic today. And this glossary echoes that. Sitting at over 300 definitions, you’ll be able to find any term you need to achieve Organisational Excellence in the modern world.
Good luck on your journey.
George Donaldson
Term:
Cause and Effect Diagram
Cause and Effect is a structured process that identifies all the possible causes for a specified effect or effects. It is drawn on the Cause and Effect Diagram, or Fishbone diagram. This process was developed by the Japanese theorist Kaoru Ishikawa.
Term:
Change Control
Change control is the process used to identify any changes to software, equipment, processes, materials, documentation.
Term:
Change-over
Change-overs are activities or processes for changing over from one type of product to another. The time used for this activity is called change-over time.
Term:
Check Sheets
Check Sheets are a simple method used to collect data and provide historical records for analysis, so that decisions can be based on facts rather than anecdotal evidence.
Term:
Coaching
Coaching can be described as helping people be the best they can be, now. The main purpose of coaching in human resources is to improve business performance by developing employees to reach their full potential. Coaching can achieve this by engaging employees to improve existing skills, learn new skills, improve effectiveness and productivity (doing the right things right), make better and more informed decisions, enhance problem-solving skills and build better relationships (through improved communications and enhanced emotional intelligence).
Term:
Conflict
Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann described conflict as the condition in which people’s concerns are incompatible or incomparable.
Understanding conflict is a necessary part of team building, it defines how the team will work together, ensuring debate and diversity of ideas, opinions and responses.
Destructive Conflict: can be described as a disagreement or difference in opinions between team members that leads to negative outcomes, creating feelings of frustration, anger and antagonism. It can include:
Blaming others.
Name calling.
Destroying ideas and opinions.
Having a lack of self-control.
Being unfocused and unproductive.
Constructive Conflict: can be described as conflict, disagreement or difference in opinions between team members that can be resolved in a positive manner so that it benefits all members. It can involve:
Sharing with others.
Clearing the air.
Supporting ideas and opinions.
Being thoughtful and controlled.
Being focused and productive.
Term:
Constraints
A constraint is an inherent, long-term persistent limiter of flow. It could be that the machine or process is running at its maximum capacity. This, therefore, limits throughput of the system and is the weakest link.
(See Bottlenecks - Theory of Constraints)
Term:
Continuous Improvement (CI)
Continuous Improvement is the never-ending process to improve the business and it uses 5S, PDCA, CI 10 Commandments as its foundation.
Term:
Continuous Improvement (CI) 10 Commandments
The CI 10 Commandments are used to ensure proper mindset prior to Continuous Improvement (CI) initiatives.
They are:
Abandon fixed ideas.
Think of ways to make it possible.
No excuses needed.
Go for the simple solution, not the perfect one.
Correct mistakes right away.
Use your wits not your wallets.
Problems are opportunities.
Repeat ‘why’ five times.
Seek ideas from many people.
There is no end to improvement.
Term:
Control Chart
Control Charts are a statistical tool used to distinguish between process variation resulting from common causes and variation resulting from special causes.
(See 7 Quality Tools - SPC)
Term:
Cost Arrow Analysis
The Cost Arrow Analysis is a simple team-based approach to quickly determine the approximate costs associated with implementing a solution.
Term:
Cost Versus Ease Analysis
The Cost Versus Ease Analysis is a decision-making technique that allows us to compare two factors:
How easy is this to implement?
How much will it cost?
It is normally performed on a 2 x 2 or 3 x 3 grid template, with the upper most right quadrant being the highest ease and largest cost.
(See Cost versus Benefit Analysis)
Term:
Covey (Stephen R)
Stephen R. Covey (aka the Father of Principle Centred Leadership), 1932-2012, was an American educator and businessman and is the world renowned author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In this book, he argued that values govern our behaviour. His Principle Centred Leadership book describes principles as fundamental truths. He placed emphasis on trustworthiness and effectiveness over efficiency. He focused on the progression of dependence to independence to interdependence. Covey was also a member of the Shingo Institute Board and was instrumental in the addition of principles into the Shingo Model.
(See Shingo Model - Shingo Institute - Principles)
Term:
Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Stephen R. Covey’s bestselling business and self-help book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989), is where he identified seven habits (principles) to help people become more effective. They were:
Be proactive.
Begin with the end in mind.
Put first things first.
Think win/win.
Seek to understand first, before making yourself understood.
Learn to synergise.
Sharpen the saw.
Term:
Covey’s See–Do–Get Model
Covey’s See–Do–Get Model was introduced in 1989 through his bestselling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
The model illustrates how the way we SEE the world (mental models, beliefs, paradigms) influences what we DO. And that our behaviours, actions and attitudes, in turn, impact on the results we GET.
(See Covey (Stephen) – Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Paradigms - Rosenthal’s
Pygmalion Effect)