A cell, cellular layout or work cell is a close arrangement or setup of people, machines or workstations. The purpose of a cellular layout is to fulfill a processing sequence while simultaneously reducing wait times, transportation and other forms of muda.  In addition to removing various forms of waste cells are very effective add promoting and facilitating effective flow.  Cells can be in many different shapes and attempt to spread work evenly amongst the resources.  

  The balanced scorecard shows key metrics on a dashboard which provide key performance indicators and insight regarding four main areas of an organization: Financial, Customer, Internal Business Processes and Learning and Growth.  The balanced scorecard is used in strategic planning and management in a wide variety of industries.  For more in depth study of the balanced scorecard we recommend reading Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton's book titled The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action.

A standard that is set to monitor sales data for specific items in forecasting models. The standard is usually set to be tripped or triggered when the demand for a period is different from the forecast by more than some number of mean absolute deviations.

  A Kaizen blitz is a rapid improvement event.  It is designed to make a fast improvement or impact to an opportunity or an issue.  A blitz will usually take place over a 1 to 5 day period, but could be as quick as a few minutes.  This gives teams an opportunity to make rapid, quick improvements.  A kaizen blitz may follow the 4 steps outlined in the PDCA cycle:

1. Plan the event.
2. Do the blitz.
3. Check or study the results of the blitz.
4. Act on any adjustments, activities or actions that may have been discovered in checking and studying to fully implement the agreed upon blitz objectives.

  A cost driver is any factor or factors that causes a change (increase/decrease) in an activities cost.  Activities often have more than one cost driver attached to them.

  One piece flow is the concept behind the just-in-time system.  An environment that operates in a One-piece flow fashion is when items or services are processed in one piece at a time.  In other words, the items move directly from one process step to the next one piece at a time.  One-piece flow drastically reduces lead times and improves quality by exposing abnormalities in processes.

  The future state is a reference to the aim of an individual, team or organization.  It can be seen as technical, organizational or philosophical.   A future state is something that will exist, happen or come to be.  When we speak of a future state in Lean and Six Sigma Strategies we are referring to the improved current state.  The Future State is not the ideal state. It is a realistic concept that helps guide you towards your ideal state.  Future states are accomplishable in the sense that you will move from current to future and then your future will become your new current condition.

  Value Stream mapping is a lean and six sigma tool used to visually understand the flow of materials and information for a given process or set of activities.  The value stream map includes both information and material or service flows that identify value added and non value added activities.  A value stream map is a fundamental tool used to lead waste reduction projects, cycle time reductions and other improvement activities.  

​  Before this powerful tool gained the name value stream map it was referred to as a material and information flow diagram or map by Toyota.

  The Value Stream is the entire set of activities that are required to design, produce and provide services or goods.  Included in every value stream is both information and material flows. When a value stream map is used you can identify both value-added and non value-added activities.