Five S's: A concept developed by the Japanese to create a workplace suited for visual control and lean production; the five S's are separate, simplify, sanitize, safety and standardize.
Jidoka: Transferring human intelligence to automated machinery so machines are able to detect a single defective part and stop running.
Kaizen: Continuous, incremental improvement.
Kanban: A small card system attached to boxes of parts that signals what to produce, when to produce it and in what quantity.
Muda: Japanese word for waste.
Poka-Yoke: A mistake-proofing device or procedure to prevent a defect during order-taking or manufacturing.
Sources: Freudenberg-NOK and Lean Thinking, a book by James Womack and Daniel Jones.