Continuous Improvement: The ongoing improvement of products, services or processes through incremental and breakthrough improvements
Current State Value Stream Map: A step-by-step map (a detailed type of flowchart) that identifies the current steps of a process family
Future State Value Stream Map: A step-by-step map (a detailed type of flowchart) that identifies the future improved steps of a process family
Kaizen Burst: Specific areas or steps in the current state value stream map that have been identified by an organization that can be improved
Process Family: One or more organizational processes that go through similar steps
Quality management: The application of a quality management system in managing a process to achieve maximum customer satisfaction at the lowest overall cost to the organization while continuing to improve the process
Quality Management Framework (QMF): A specific plan and or document that identifies how an organization will involve leadership, employees and customers in assessing the quality of processes within an organization. A typical QMF plan should involve the concepts of plan, do, check and act (PDCA). An organization should have a plan on how they will assess a process, then (do) make improvements to the processes, then check if the improvements are working, and act accordingly if they are not working
Quality Management System (QMS): A formalized system that documents the structure, responsibilities and procedures required to achieve effective quality management
Quality Plan: A document or set of documents that describe the standards, quality practices, resources and processes pertinent to a specific product, service or project
Quality Policy: An organization's general statement of its beliefs about quality, how quality will come about and what is expected to result
Value Stream Map: A step-by-step map (a detailed type of flowchart) that visually displays the steps of related processes within an organization
You can learn more about various quality management processes through the American Society of Quality
