A spaghetti diagram is a tool used to track the amount of movement or distance traveled by a worker or materials.  You can then use a spaghetti diagram to analyze what you tracked and improve the flow.  As a tool that is used in the analysis of process flows, a spaghetti diagram reveals redundancy in processes and helps users to identify various forms of waste.  The name comes from the reference of laying spaghetti noodles out to show the flow of materials or workers.

Managing inventory would be impossible without a means to track how much inventory is on hand and if it is an appropriate amount of inventory.  With that being said, the days of supply metric is a useful metric that can show an organization how many days their existing inventory will last before it reaches zero or drops into their safety stocks.

  Total productive maintenance is a maintenance strategy which focuses on achieving improved performance, reduced breakdowns and better quality through the preventative maintenance and effort of employees. 

  A process is a sequence of interdependent and linked procedures designed to transform inputs into the desired outputs.  Each stage of a process consumes some type of resource (e.g. time, energy).  Some parts of a process are intended to create value while other parts of a process are intended to support the creation of value. 

  Inventory waste is any unnecessary storage of materials, products or information.

  One of the most important components of standard work is understanding what the cycle time of a process is.  Cycle time is sometimes referred to as standard cycle time.  Cycle time is the amount of time it takes to complete an individual operation or task from start to finish.  In other words, the amount of time required to process one part.  This includes processing time on a machine, any manual work that may be required, waiting, inspection, walking and any other activities involved in processing the one part. 

  We’ve all heard that Lean and the Just in Time System are the Same.  And, while there are some similarities, the two systems are in fact, different.  Generally speaking, the Just In Time System makes up one pillar of a Lean Organization and although the principles and techniques can be applied to service environments, the Just In Time philosophy is mainly used in manufacturing.  The philosophy helps an organization achieve three main focuses:

• Produce only what your customers want.
• Produce when your customers want.
• Produce only the amount your customers want.

  Standard work is a detailed definition of the current agreed-upon steps needed for a person to complete one work cycle in the absolute best and most reliable method possible.

  In Lean Six Sigma, flow is the term used to refer to a production or service environment that continuously moves value through the value stream without interruptions.  An environment that has flow would have very low levels of muda, muri and mura.

  Cash to cash cycle time looks at the amount of time, usually days, of working capital a business has tied up in managing its inventory or supply chain.  Like many metrics, the more efficient the cash-to-cash cycle time is, the fewer days an organization's cash is unavailable for use.

​  Days sales outstanding or DSO as it is often called, is a ratio that measures the average number of days a company takes to collect its accounts receivable. When a company's DSO is short, it tells us that the company is faster at collecting payments from customers.  ​This also means you are able to use the cash from sales sooner.

​  Days payable outstanding ratio is used in accounting and finance departments that measures how many days, usually on average, it takes a company to provide payment to its suppliers.  The higher a company’s DPO, the longer it takes to pay its bills.

  Days inventory outstanding, or, DIO, as it is often referred to, is a ratio that measures the average number of days that a company holds inventory before they transform that inventory into sales.  The lower the figure, the better.

  Visual control refers to methods, devices, activities and or systems which are designed to assist in the management or control of our activities, processes, parts and or machines through visual and or other sensory means.

  Formally defined, a fill rate is the percentage of customer orders that a company can ship or, “fill”, immediately from the inventory you have on hand without placing backorders, running out of stock or missing sales.

  PDCA or plan-do-check-act is a four step method used in lean, quality improvements and other continuous improvement strategies.  

  A Defect is any output from a service or a product that does not meet the customer required specifications, standards or requirements. 

  Inventory Turnover is the number of times your inventory cycles or turns over in a year or other defined period.  Inventory turnover can help an organization understand how efficiently their inventory is supporting sales.  The inventory turnover number implies how often inventory was bought and sold throughout the year or other defined period.  Put another way, inventory turnover is an indicator of how well a business is using their inventory.  For example, how many dollars of sales from a cost perspective are being supported by each dollar of inventory.

​  Though not a valuation method, transfer pricing is a technique that organizations use to assist in aggregate inventory management, especially when looking at, and adjusting margins.  Formally defined transfer pricing is a practice used in accounting to transfer the cost of goods or services from one area of a business to another.

  The 8 forms of waste are also referred to as the 8 forms of muda.  A Lean strategy attempts to remove any and all forms of waste from business processes.

  A problem is a deviation or gap between what is actually happening and what should be happening.  A problem can also be defined as any customer need that is not met on-time in the right amount and in acceptable quality (according to the customer).

​  Standard costs are actually estimates of the actual costs in a company’s production process.  These estimates are used because knowing the exact costs would be impossible until the process is performed.  Another way to think of standard costs is as the target or budgeted costs involved in a businesses processes.  Standard costs usually include: material costs, labor costs and overhead costs.

  The specific identification inventory valuation method is used to track each and every item in your inventory individually.  This includes the time it enters the inventory until the time it leaves it.  Let’s not get confused here, specific identification is different from LIFO and FIFO.  LIFO and FIFO  groups pieces of inventory together based on when they were purchased and how much they cost, while specific identification identifies and tracks every piece of inventory individually.  The specific inventory method tags or marks each item with its purchase cost and any additional costs that are incurred in the transformation process until it is sold.