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Kaizen: A Japanese term for improvement - continuing improvement
involving everyone - managers and workers. In manufacturing, kaizen relates to
finding and eliminating waste in machinery, labor, or production methods. Also
see: Continuous Process Improvement.
Kanban: Japanese word for visible record, loosely translated means
card, billboard, or sign. Popularized by Toyota Corporation, it uses standard
containers or lot sizes to deliver needed parts to the assembly line just in
time for use.
Keiretsu: A form of cooperative relationship among companies in Japan
where the companies largely remain legally and economically independent, even
though they work closely in various ways, such as sole sourcing and financial
backing. A member of a keiretsu generally owns a limited amount of stock in other
member companies. A keiretsu generally forms around a bank and a trading
company but distribution (supply chain) keiretsus exist, linking companies from
raw material suppliers to retailers.
Key Performance Indicator (KPI): A measure which is of strategic importance to a company or
department. For example, a supply chain flexibility metric is Supplier On-Time
Delivery Performance which indicates the percentage of orders that fulfilled on
or before the original requested date. Also see: Scorecard.
Kitting: Light assembly of components or parts into defined units,
Kitting reduces the need to maintain an inventory of pre-build, completed
products, but increases the time and labor consumed at shipment.
Also see: Postponement
Also see: Postponement