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One Piece Flow is the
optimal manufacturing process. All the resources get aligned and the product
literally flows in a stream towards the shipping dock. Not always and not all
products can be manufactured with this system, but the closer we can get to it,
the better the business will run. Change of mind-set, and willingness to
continuously improve are all that this system
requires...
In order to achieve this
smooth process (NUMMI-like), the old concept of a central warehouse needs to be
changed. From now on we should operate like a supermarket. The supplies must
arrive to the closest possible point of use, so there is no excessive
movement-transportation of the parts by the manufacturing operators. In some
cases the materials will be delivered directly by an external supplier, in some
other cases an internal supplier will do the function of
"water-spider" constantly replenishing materials exactly where they
are needed, when they are needed and in the amounts required for a short period
of operation. Some of these replenishments of supplies take place each hour or
even fewer than 60 minutes.
When the gurus from Toyota
observed the operation of a Safeway supermarket in New York, they discovered the
power of this process that they have called "pull" since it is the
"pull" of parts from the bin that will trigger the new supply. Just as
consumers in the supermarket pull from the shelves the products they want to buy
and a supplier replenishes in the appropriate amounts for the next day or few
hours. It woks like a clock!
The opposite of this is the
traditional "push" when you get more than you need, and sometimes
causes waste of space and uncomfortable conditions.
Of course there is much more
to One Piece Flow achievement, however, POUS is a critical piece of it. To
support this concept, almost everywhere is applicable the use of "Kambans"
or Signals that help suppliers see the level of product. Tilted bins that can be
fed from the back while operators pull pieces from the front are also a great
help in this conversion. A two bin system can also be used, when one bin is
empty the operator sends it to the back and that is the Kamban for the supplier.
Send
me your questions or comments...
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