Glossary

Industrial Engineering

The art of using ALL available tools and experiences to assist management in improving productivity. It’s covers the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, equipment and other resources and ensuring the correct ergonomic standards are followed.

Man-Machine Interaction

Flow diagram linking manual and machine operations to achieve most efficient and effective combination of resources

HPU (Hours Per Unit)

A procedure determine the amount of paid hours that have been used to produce the final product.

JPH (Jobs Per Hour)

A measure of how many products are produced each hour.

Capacity Analysis

Establishing the amount of products that can be manufactured in a predetermined time scale. This is the foundation of forward planning.

Uptime (%)

This effectively shows the lines efficiency, actual output measured against cyclic capacity.

Cyclic Capacity

Determining the maximum output of the process.

OEE Overall Equipment Effectiveness

A composite measure of the performance of a machine or process to carry out value adding activity, usually expressed as a percentage.

Operator Rating

Procedure where the operator is measured/Timed against the Work standard time. These are broken down into small elements to understand the difference between Actual V’s Standard.

Synthetic time standards

This is the use of pre-determined motion time systems where every movement of the operator has a standard time assigned to it.

Process Verification

Ensuring the process being carried out are the most efficient way in which the operation can be carried out.

Ergonomics

The process of fitting jobs to people, not people to jobs.

Six Sigma

The continuous pursuit of waste elimination, reduced variation and defect prevention. Only do essential work at the point of changeover/setup.

SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Dies)

Highly effective quick changeover methodology to reduce downtime from changeovers in any business.

Time study

Observing, recording and rating of human work to establish the times required by a qualified worker to perform specified work under stated conditions at a defined rate of working.

Work study

The systematic examination of activities in order to improve the effective and efficient use of human and other resources.

Kaizen

A strategy for creating a culture of continuous improvement.

Kanban

A Japanese term meaning “signal” that creates an orderly and efficient flow of materials throughout an entire manufacturing process.

5S

A simple but dramatic Lean technique to highlight and eliminate waste with a better organised workplace.