Flow and Pull Systems

How To Achieve One-Piece Production In Machining Operations

Last week, I discussed how Henry Ford developed one-piece-flow in his assembly operation and why he could not implement one-piece production in his machining operations. But all was not lost due to Taichi Ohno’s persistence, and one-piece production became a reality in machining operations. This week I’ll focus on the rules and conditions necessary to implement one-piece production...

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Six Rules To Ensure Your Kanban System Is Effective

A kanban is a signboard or card, and the word also refers to the system of utilizing standard containers, each of which has a card designating what and when to produce.  Toyota uses kanban to make what they need when it is needed and in the quantity. Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System, stated that it is not an overstatement to say that kanban controls the flow of goods at...

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Flow and Pull Systems Explained

  Continuous flow is defined as producing and moving one item at a time, or a small and consistent batch of items, through a series of processing steps as continuously as possible, with each step making just what is requested by the next step.  Other names for continuous flow are one-piece flow, single-piece flow, and make one, move one.  Flow supports lean by focusing on producing...

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