Driver Two: Uninterrupted Flow

Uninterrupted flow (U-flow) is the second driver of WFM and its basic intent is to eliminate as many breaks in the flow of work required to complete a product as physically possible. What normally happens is that you must relocate equipment and facilities to support the effort. However, it is important that you do not do this in a helter-skelter manner. Again, at the offset, this usually calls for a pilot area approach. But before getting into how we would go about that, let's further examine the concept of uninterrupted flow.

An interruption in flow is any occurrence in the production process that requires parts, assemblies, or components to stop before they can be completed. The more an operation flows in an uninterrupted manner, the fewer the parts that are required in the overall work-in-process chain. The fewer parts required in the chain, the less scrap, rework, and obsolescence required. When you have done enough to eliminate disruptions in flow, one-piece flow becomes a result of the process.

A stop generally implies that an intermediate storage of some kind is required. For example: Part AA flows from its first operation, going from raw material to the formation of a completed part and proceeds through operation 1. Then on to 2, then finally 3, where the part is finished. However, the part is used in sub-assembly BB, which also requires other parts and components. Subassembly BB is put together elsewhere in the factory so Part...