Glossary

Best Practices

Documented strategies and processes that are considered to the most effective and yield the best results.

Collective Purchasing

Joining other businesses of associations and purchasing supplies in bulk to get greater quantity price breaks.

Critical Path Analysis

The analysis of the length of time between the individual steps of a process that will help determine the shortest time possible for completing a project. The Critical Path is the longest sequence of dependent activities that lead to the completion of the plan.

Flowchart

A graphical representation of a process that breaks the process down into individual steps and illustrates those steps based on the action involved. Arrows called "flow lines" show the direction of the flow of the process from one step to the next. Symbols denote the actions.

Gantt Chart

A chart used in project management to plan and track the progress of a project. Time is indicated as columns across the chart, with individual tasks represented as arrows terminating at dots. The length and positions of the arrows show the start date and duration of the tasks. You may also use solid bars rather than arrows terminating in dots.

ISO 9000

A series of quality-based standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization. These standards provide standard terminology, rules and guidelines for products to facilitate the exchange of international goods and services.

ISO 14000

A series of environmental-based standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization. These standards provide guidelines for environmental management systems, environmental auditing, environmental performance evaluations, labelling standards, life cycle assessments, environmental aspects in product standards, and standardization of terms and definitions.

JIT (Just in Time)

The technique of timing supply orders so that they arrive just prior to depletion of the existing supply in order to save storage space and not tie up capital. An added benefit of JIT is the reduction in waste of supplies left over when a process of product is changed.

Kaizen

The Japanese philosophy that means continuous improvement and enhancements to a process. It focuses on eliminating waste from the production process, as well as identifying the areas of the business that need improvement. It also applies to everyone in the business.

MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning)

The process of determining the supply needs and timelines for new manufacturing processes in order to predict product delivery schedules and respond to changes in the market or product.

PERT chart

Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is another charting technique used in project management to plan and track the progress of a project. Time is indicated as the columns of the graph, with circles representing the completion of tasks, and linking lines showing the time taken to achieve the tasks. The critical path is shown as the horizontal series of tasks.

Plot Process

A graphing technique used in operations management that helps identify the stages of a process that do and do not add value. This technique allows you to remove or restructure non-value-adding steps to save time and money.

TQM

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a philosophy that involves reviewing, restructuring, and improving processes within the company. This movement is not limited to those processes that are part of production, but also covers processes in all aspects of the business.