5S
workplace organization method promoting efficiency and effectiveness; five terms
based on Japanese words for: sorting, set in order, systematic cleaning,
standardizing, and sustaining
5 Whys
iterative process of discovery through repetitively asking 'why'; used to explore cause
and effect relationships underlying and/or leading to problem
80/20 Rule
AKA the Pareto principle: roughly 80% of results come from 20% of effort
Accuracy
quality or state of being correct or precise, or the degree to which the result of a
measurement, calculation, or specification conforms to the correct value or
standard
Activity-based costing
,method of assigning costs to products or services on the resources that they
consume
Agent-based modeling
a class of computation models for simulating actions and interactions of
autonomous agents with a view to assessing their effects on the system as a whole
Algorithm
set of specific steps to solve a problem
Amortization
allocation of cost of an item or items over a time period such that the actual cost is
recovered; often used to account for capital expenditures
Analytics
scientific process of transforming data into insight for making better decisions
Analytics professional
,person capable of making actionable decisions through the analytic process; also a
person holding the Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) credential
ANCOVA
acronym for analysis of covariance
ANOVA
acronym for analysis of variance
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
branch of computer science that studies and develops intelligent machines and
software
Artificial Neural Networks
computer-based models inspired by animal central nervous systems
Assemble-to-Order (ATO)
manufacturing process where products are assembled as they are ordered;
characterized by rapid production and customization
, Assignment problem
The problem instance has a number of agents and a number of tasks. Any agent can
be assigned to perform any task, incurring some cost that may vary depending on the
task. It is required to perform all tasks by assigning exactly one agent to each task
and exactly one task to each agent in such a way that the total cost is minimized. The
Hungarian algorithm is one of many algorithms that have been devised that solve the
problem. Other algorithms include adaptations of the primal simplex algorithm, and
the auction algorithm.
-Suppose that a taxi firm has three taxis (the agents) available, and three customers
(the tasks) wishing to be picked up as soon as possible. The firm prides itself on
speedy pickups, so for each taxi the "cost" of picking up a particular customer will
depend on the time taken for the taxi to reach the pickup point. The solution to the
assignment problem will be whichever combination of taxis and customers results in
the least total cost.
Automation
use of mechanical means to perform work previously done by human effort
Average
sum of a range of values divided by the number of values to arrive at a value
characteristic of the midpoint of the range