ABSTRACT

This chapter presents many useful tools that can be used to solve problems and promote continuous improvement. The Lean methodology is one of the Toyota Production System (TPS) tools which focuses on eliminating waste within processes or systems. The Six Sigma methodology focuses on variability, which is consistent with establishing high quality. The Five Whys tool is a TPS interrogative approach used in both Lean and Six Sigma to determine the root cause of a problem. Visual Process Control is a Lean technique used to make different stages of a process clearly visual. Standardized work is the act of defining the processes used and the time each process should take. Bottleneck analysis is used to identify current bottlenecks in order to identify potential opportunities to correct them. The Ishikawa Diagram, also known as the fishbone diagram, is a visual representation of the root causes of a problem.