P2SL Project Production Systems Laboratory

UC Berkeley

Lean Construction Glossary

4 P

Refers to a pyramid with four layers describing the Toyota Way:

  1. Philosophy
  2. Process
  3. People and Partners
  4. Problem Solving.

G_4P-BW

References:
Liker, J.K. (2003). The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer. McGraw-Hill, 362 pp.
Liker, J.K. and Meier, D. (2005). The Toyota Way Fieldbook: A Practical Guide for Implementing Toyota’s 4Ps. New York: McGraw-Hill, 476 pp.

5 Big Ideas

→ see Five Big Ideas

5 S

A disciplined approach to maintaining order in the workplace, using visual controls, to avoid and eliminate waste.

English translations from Japanese of the 5 S words are:

  1. Sort
  2. Straighten or Set in Order
  3. Shine or Sweep
  4. Standardize
  5. Sustain or Self-Discipline.

5 WHYs, 5 Why analysis

A problem solving technique based on asking why successively (at least 5 times) in order to get beyond the symptoms of a problem and to uncover the root cause.

Reference: For a definition, also see p. 17 in Ohno, T. (1988). The Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production. Productivity Press, Portland, OR, 143 pp.

7 wastes

Ohno (1988) defined seven wastes in production:

  1. Defects
  2. Inventory
  3. Processing or Over Processing
  4. Waiting
  5. Motion
  6. Transportation or Conveyance
  7. Overproduction

Womack added

  • Not using people’s capabilities

Koskela (2004) added

  • Make-do

→ related to Muda

References:
Koskela, L. (2004). “Making-do: the Eighth Category of Waste.” In: Bertelsen, S. and Formoso, C.T., Proc. 12th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction, Helsingør, Denmark, 3-5 Aug.
Ohno, T. (1988). The Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production. Productivity Press, Portland, OR, 143 p.