O

Oba, Obeeya

→ see Big Room

Ohno circle

Used when standing over an extended period of time in one location (in a hula hoop or in a circle drawn on the ground) in order to observe first-hand what is taking place in a surrounding area (work place).

Named after Taiichi Ohno (1912-1990).

operation

Part of a process that can be designed and tested in a first run study in order to figure out what specific steps to take.

output

The product or service resulting from execution of a (transformation) process.

output rate, throughput

[unit of product/unit of time]

The average time between outputs of successive units.

Example: A builder completes houses at an output rate of 3.2 houses/month.

Related → see Little’s Law

overprocessing

One of 7 wastes defined by Ohno (1988) referring to taking more processing steps or more time, or producing work that exceeds the customer’s explicit expectations.

overproduction

One of 7 wastes defined by Ohno (1988) referring to producing more than needed before it is needed.