"A Little Bit on Lean"
A lot of lean vocabulary is derived from the Japanese language. You don't need to use these words to adopt lean methods, but knowing them can be helpful when working with consultants and partners.

Jidoka is a means of stopping production when flaws are detected. Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, fathered the notion when he invented an automatic loom in the early 1900s. The Loom stopped when any thread broke, letting a single operator oversee production on many looms at the same time

Kan ban is a card, sign or signal that triggers replenishment of a material when it is required to continue the production process. Kanban control ensures that parts are not made except in response to demand.

Kaizen means continuous improvement, or changing for the better. "Kai" means "to change" and "zen" means "for the good." So during a "Kaizen event," a team scrutinizes a manufacturer's operations and then makes suggestions on how to improve them.

Poka-Yoke refers to a mistake-proofing procedure to prevent defects during a process. It comes from "poka," meaning "errors“ and "yoke" the verb "to avoid".

The Seven Wastes are the most common wastes found in physical production, catalogued by Lean pioneer Taiichi Ohno, namely, over production ahead of demand, waiting for the next processing step, unnecessary transport of materials, over processing of parts due to poor tool and product design, keeping inventories of more than the absolute minimum, unnecessary movement by employees during work and
production of defective parts.

Takt, derived from the German "der Takt," meaning "beat" or "pulse," is the rate of customer demand. A lean manufacturer's goal is to be right on the takt time.