COMMON TERMS USED IN THIS SERIES

Today, I will share some of the common terms and acronyms that will be used in this series. 

GPS: Refers to Growth, Profits and Sustenance which are basic requirements for any business.

 VOB: Voice of Business (VOB) - is a tool that captures the stated and unstated needs of the shareholders/stakeholders/business owners.

 VOC: - means the Voice of Customer. It is a representation of Customer’s requirements and is expressed as targets or Specification limits and are an indication of what the customer perceives to be acceptable and is willing to pay for.

 PQCD: PRODUCT – QUALITY – COST – DELIVERY. These are the fundamental requirements for any business to succeed. LEAN provides tools to ensure that these are maintained..

 VOP: Voice of Process is the performance of a process over a period of time. If the VOP is lying within the VOC, then everything is fine with the process. But if VOP is lying outside the VOC, then it means that the process is generating defects and an improvement project has to be undertaken.

 STANDARDS: Standards are basic parameters set for a process or product specification to ensure that we stick to the desired result. For example, it could be Standard Operating Procedure, Quality Standards, Visual Standards and so on. The are the foundations of Lean and Six Sigma.

 VOE: Voice of the Employee is the term used to describe the stated and unstated needs or requirements of the employees of your business. It is no secret that employees who are satisfied in their jobs are more motivated, loyal, dedicated and productive. By asking your employees what they care about, you can understand motivations and perceptions to create and maintain a loyal and committed staff.

TEI: Total Employee Involvement is an empowerment technique where employees participate in actions and decision making that were traditionally reserved for management. There are a number of good techniques that facilitate involvement, We will go through each of them in future posts. 

Top Down approach: The traditional approach followed in most hierarchical organizations.

Bottoms up approach: A revolutionary approach offered by LEAN; more on this in the next post.

CTQs (Critical-to-Quality Characteristics), and specific opportunities for improvement

Link to last week's article: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/businesses-ref-jsl-001-sridhar-j

LEAN MURALI, my mentor in understanding LEAN, has a magnificent mission. His mission is to help one million young professionals become Lean Champions. Towards this, he conducts a weekly one hour online Knowledge Sharing Session where he explains Lean, Six Sigma concepts in a simple manner that is easy follow. He believes that spreading knowledge to hungry minds is no less than donating blood or feeding the poor. This is absolutely FREE and anyone can participate. Those interested in these free live sessions can opt to register through the following link:

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