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O Terms
Objective vs. Subjective
Being able to recognize objective vs. subjective information is an important skill for individuals in Lean companies.
Observation
Observation is an important skill for Lean and other methods of continuous improvement.
Obsolescence
Any product or service you purchase has a useful life. After that, the value of continuing to use it declines until it makes sense to move to something more modern.
Occam's Razor
The common interpretation of Occam’s Razor is that when all other things are equal, the simplest solution is probably right.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
See: OSHA
Off the Shelf
The tools, machines, software, or other resources you use to do your job fall into two basic categories. The first type is the most common and contains “off the shelf” resources.
Office Politics
Office politics are the unwritten rules of interactions in an organization. Social politics form in any group of people that interact regularly. Families have politics.
Office Work, Hajek's Law of
Many office work areas don’t control the flow of work onto people’s desks. As a result, individuals may face a small pile of work on one day, and a large pile of work the next.
Office, Lean
The Lean office is the result of the progression of Lean from the shop floor to the office environment.
Ohno, Taiichi
Taiichi Ohno (February 29, 1912-May 28, 1990) is considered by many to be the father of modern Lean and the Toyota Production System.
One-Piece Flow
One-piece flow is the method of production in which operators or machines work on single units and pass them along to the next process when requested.
One-Touch Exchange of Die / OTED
A big part of getting changeover time reduced to the point where it is a single-minute exchange of die (SMED), is figuring out how to do it with less motion.
One-Touch Installation
Many people are familiar with the concept of one-touch exchange of dies, an offshoot of SMED.
Operator Cycle Time
Operator cycle time is the time it takes an operator to do one unit of his or her prescribed work from start to finish. Note that this is elapsed time.
Operators
The term “operator” is frequently used to describe a shop floor worker in a production environment.
Opinions
Dictionary.com defines an opinion as “a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to product complete certainty. “
Opportunities
Problems are generally looked at as a situation in which the current condition does not match the “should be” state.
Opportunity Costs
Imagine that it is a Friday afternoon. The sun is shining, and you are looking forward to all that the weekend has to offer you. You only have two days off. What are you going to do with your time?
Optimization
Optimization is the act of making a system as effective as possible by adjusting the controllable variables.
Order Interaction Point
The term order interaction point refers to the location in the fulfillment process where a specific item becomes attached to a specific customer.
OSHA / Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OSHA, or the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, is a part of the US Department of Labor.
OTED
See: One-Touch Exchange of Die
Our Process is Different
One of the most frequent quotes I encounter when helping people improve their processes is “Our process is different.”
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the practice of sending work to another entity (a second company or an individual not employed by the outsourcing company).
Overproduction
Overproduction is one of the seven wastes of Lean. It is the act of making a product or performing a service before the downstream customer asks for it.
Overtime
Overtime is the period when an hourly wage earner works beyond his or her scheduled time, usually for an incremental boost in pay. State and federal employment laws govern how overtime can be used.
Ownership
Ownership creates responsibility. Whether it is a company, a process, or a desk, people tend to take more responsibility when they are dealing with something that is theirs.