Ask the Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) Expert: Scheduling Assistance
 Asked on Sep 22 2005 12:06:15:000PM | Q | What is the difference between a Lean shop and a flow-based production environment? Aren't they essentially the same thing? Don, Pawtucket, RI |
| A | Lean shops are using the principles and practices derived from the Toyota Production System developed by in the late 1970s. Whereas flow-based production is based on a variation of this system, as developed by John Costanza and promoted by the John Costanza Institute (JCIT). Because hundreds of manufacturers sent people to JCIT for education in his Demand Flow approach, the use of flow concepts and systems exist in a number of companies. Flow and Lean share similar principles, but the execution differs. Lean scheduling is done with a Heijunka scheduling tool, while a Flow schedule is done with a demand driven planning technique on a given pacemaker work cell. Both approaches are TACT (or demand driven), and both are designed to level production across the plant by scheduling a pacemaker operation, pull material with Kanbans, and reduce inventory and waste. However, the Heijunka scheduling approach is visual and simpler to understand and execute. It simply factors the current tact and target inventory levels (in days) and then sequences the order of products in relationship to daily demand. The Demand Flow Technology used by JCIT considers resource constraints in its calculation for a given production line, which requires more complex calculations. |
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