​Nemawashi (根回し) in Japanese means 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.

  The nomogram is a computational aid which consists of two or more scales which are drawn and arranged so that results of calculations may be found by the linear connection points.  The graph usually contains three parallel scales graduated for different variables so that when a straight line connects each value of any two, that value can be read directly from the third at the point of intersection.

Also Called: Alignment Chart

  A Non-Value added activity is any activity that adds no value to the product, service or information.  Non-value added activities typically have three characteristics that are fairly simple to identify.   

  Nagara refers to the smooth production or service flow of both materials and information.  The ideal or perfect condition would be one piece flow that is perfectly balanced and uses the entire capacity available.

    ​Normal distribution is a statistical representation where most distributions that are observed are relatively close to one mean (average).  If there is deviation associated with the mean, which there normally is, the deviation remains almost identical on the plus side as the deviation on the minus side.  When normal distribution is graphed (histogram) it generally takes the shape of a bell showing "normal" or even distribution from the mean.