 The
Newsletter of Lean Manufacturing & Factory Science
February
28, 2003
www.strategosinc.com
Lot
Sizing & Small Lot Production
Small
lot production is an important element of Lean Manufacturing.
It smoothes production, eases scheduling, improves quality in many ways
and makes Kanban feasible. The problem is: What
does ?small? really mean?
Some
experts insist that ?small? means one piece. Others assert that lot
size is irrelevant. Still others waffle or avoid the question by
insisting that setup reduction cures everything. Of course, setup
reduction is a good thing (as Martha Stewart would say) but it does not
happen instantly. Toyota took many years to achieve SMED. So, what do
you do about lot sizing in the meantime?
Most
manufacturers take an intuitive approach to lot sizing which frequently
misleads. As a result, lot sizes are often much too large and some
are much too small.
Economic
Lot Sizing (ELS) has been widely discredited. But, used properly, ELS is
one of several valid considerations for a rational decision. You can
learn more about lot sizing on our website at:
www.strategosinc.com/lean_lot_sizing.htm This and subsequent pages
discuss:
-
How to make rational lot size decisions
-
Why lot sizing is different for bottlenecks and non-bottlenecks
-
How Setup Reduction impacts the lot size decision
-
How benchmarks make the job easy
All
The Best-
Quarterman
Lee
Please
feel free to forward this Lean Briefing to colleagues or use it
in your publication. We only ask that you do so in its entirety. |
