Maintaining tidiness and cleanliness in the workplace.

Refers to the five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke which are shorthand expressions for the principal techniques of maintaining an effective, efficient workplace. Some companies add a 6S, Safety. A brief explanation of these terms follows:

Eliminating everything not required for the work being performed.

The efficient placement and arrangement of equipment and material.

An ongoing, standardized, improvement process.

Discipline with leadership.

A simple technique used to reveal the root cause (as opposed to the symptoms) of a problem. This approach asks the question "why" until the root cause is finally discovered.

A visual control device in a production area. It is typically a lit overhead display, giving the current status of the production system and alerting employees to emerging problems. The number of lights and their possible colors can vary. However, the traditional colors and their meanings are:

An abbreviation of analysis of variance.

Automation with a human touch. A partial English translation of jidoka.