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1. What
is it?
a. Single piece flow is the ideal state where parts are
manufactured one at a time, and flow throughout the manufacturing and supply
chain as single unit, transferred as customer’s order.
b. Manufacturing large batches of parts simultaneously,
or accumulating parts in a bin for shipping or transferring 2 or more parts
at the same time is opposite or contrasted to the definition of Single Piece
Flow.
c. Single Piece Flow (SPF) supports Just-in-Time, Toyota
Production Systems, Lean Manufacturing, Theory of Constraints (Drum, Buffer,
Rope), and similar types of philosophies and systems
2. How
Does it Work ?
a. Batch
sizes are recorded for historical system (baseline).
b. Optimum batch size and transfer sizes are calculated,
starting with:
i. The
most critical work centres
ii. The largest inventory carrying costs
iii. The highest risk processes
iv. The most unpredictable process
v. Other controlling factors
c. Action is taken for improvement at the work centres,
rules, methods that have the greatest impact on the throughput, customer
satisfaction, risk, cost, or inventory carrying charges. These actions can
include:
i. SMED
ii. Kanban
iii. Process re-design
iv. Production sequence
v. JIT
vi. Etc.
3. Resources
Required
a. Process Map
b. Calculator
c. Process comprehension
d. Value
mapping
e. Authority to make process improvements
f. Process operating date (ie. flows, batch sizes,
inventory, etc.)
g. Lean
process understanding
4. Symptoms
indicating that it is needed
a. Long
delivery lead times (customers will consider paying more to defeat them)
b. Obsolete inventories
c. Large
batches of defects & rework, all with the same or similar defect.
d. High
product velocity ratios (3 is excellent, 60 is poor)
e. Low
inventory turns (100 is excellent, 3 is poor)
f. Slow
changeovers
g. Left-overs
at beginning & end of production run
5. Example/Case
Study
a. Penny
Lane game
Penny Lane
Game
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