Glossary

The series of interactions a customer has with a company or organization to receive a product or service from initial contact to ongoing support.

Any point of interaction between the customer and the company, such as review of information, demo, sales contacts, product or solution interactions, and support.

Challenges or frustrations customers encounter during their journey.

A representation of a key customer segment based on research, including their demographics, objectives, behaviors, and challenges. Organizations will have both internal and external customers seeking value.

The end-to-end set of activities required to deliver a product or service to a customer. Customers include internal customers that rely on your work to deliver to the end customer.

The steps involved in delivering value to the end customer through production and delivery processes.

The steps creating or improving products or services. These include the systems that support operational value streams or customer facing solutions.

Supporting functions that help sustain other value streams such as internal help centers that support an organization's staff.

A collaboration where cross functional groups create a visual map of the steps in a value stream, score the performance to highlight bottlenecks and identify opportunities for improvement.

A step in the process where work slows down, limiting the overall flow of value.

A desired state where there is a smooth progression of work through the value stream with minimal delays, interruptions and rework.

The total time it takes including Wait Time (WT) and Active time (AT) to complete one cycle of a process from start to finish for a given unit of value to be produced.

The percentage of time a unit of value flows through a step without requiring rework, reflecting step-level quality. Total %C&A measures the percentage of work units that flow through the entire value stream without rework, serving as an overall indicator of quality.

The calculated flow time adjusted by the probability of rework for each step, linearizing flow metrics into a single value for insights.

Total Activity Time / Total Flow Time, representing the percentage of value-added time in the total cycle time, an indicator of productivity.

A visual board to manage workflow by signaling when should move through each stage of the process for highest throughput.

Means light, used as a visual alert to signal problems that require immediate attention. For optimal performance a leader is prepared to respond to the Andon to Gemba Walk and do everything in their power to remove the problem.

The actual place where work is done. In Lean, it refers to the place where value is created, such as the shop floor in manufacturing. A leader practicing Gemba observes, listens to team members, asks open-ended questions to understand challenges, and will support an open Kaizen culture by taking decisive action to improve the environment and remove impediments.

Waste. Activities that do not add value to the process and should be eliminated.

Unevenness. Variability in processes that can lead to inefficiencies and waste.

Overburden. Putting too much strain on people or equipment, which can lead to breakdowns and inefficiencies.

Continuous improvement. It focuses on continuously making small, incremental changes to processes to improve efficiency and quality.

Radical improvement. Larger, more significant changes to processes or systems compared to the incremental approach of Kaizen.

nVeris Startup and Adapt Cycle agendas are optimized for incremental changes, allowing organizations to steadily improve processes through small, manageable adjustments.

For critical strategic opportunities requiring rapid, large-scale transformation, nVeris sessions can be extended to create a comprehensive roadmap of improvements. This approach aligns multiple levels and segments to drive significant organizational change. nVeris adapts to both methodologies, supporting continuous improvement or transformative initiatives based on organizational needs.

A Kata is a structured practice designed to learn and improve processes through deliberate, repetitive actions. Originating from martial arts, where it refers to choreographed patterns of movement. In lean and business contexts, Kata focuses on developing skills and fostering continuous improvement through iterative learning cycles.