Automotive assembly is one of the pinnacles of modern manufacturing, having a very complex product of 30 000 parts as well as mass production in large quantities. The modern automotive moving assembly line is hence one of the most complex manufacturing operations in the world. In this two-post series I will look at how this ... Read more The post The Evolution of Automotive Assembly Line—Part 1 first appeared on AllAboutLean.com ..read more

As part of my grand tour of German automotive, I visited the BMW plant in Leipzig. As of now, this is my second most favorite German automotive plant, after BMW in Munich. I will talk more about this quite well-organized and indeed beautiful plant in a later post series, but in this post I’m going ... Read more The post The BMW Finger Line Layout first appeared on AllAboutLean.com ..read more

In my previous post I started to show you how Fendt uses the distance between tractors on their assembly line to manage their quite high variability. By changing the distance between parts on the line, you can adjust the takt time for each part on the assembly line, hence the name Variable Takt. But this ... Read more The post Variable Takt at Fendt in Marktoberdorf—Part 2 first appeared on AllAboutLean.com ..read more

Normally, assembly lines are run with a product in every slot of the line. However, for various reasons, sometimes you may have an empty spot. Depending on your assembly line, you may even play with the general distance between products on the line. The latter is called variable takt, or VarioTakt. In this post I ... Read more The post Using Empty Slots on the Assembly Line first appeared on AllAboutLean.com ..read more

Poka yoke is Japanese for mistake proofing. It is a way to reduce errors and mistakes by designing the product so that it cannot be assembled or used incorrectly. I find this extremely useful, not only in manufacturing but also in many instances in daily life where poka yoke prevents me from making mistakes. In ... Read more The post The Two Directions of Poka Yoke first appeared on AllAboutLean.com ..read more

In my last three posts I showed you how I look at shop floors, starting with some general guidance (FOCUS!) and going into detail through the different aspects of what I try to observe on the shop floor (5S, visual management, waste, unevenness, overburden, and safety). This usually gives me a reasonable overview of what ... Read more The post Different Aspects of Seeing a Shop Floor—Gemba vs. Data first appeared on AllAboutLean.com ..read more

This post continues my series on how I try to understand an unfamiliar shop floor. In the last post I talked about how to see visual management, 5S, and waste. These are usually easy to see. This post continues with unevenness, overburden, and safety, which are usually harder to observe. Unevenness Unevenness, or in Japanese ... Read more The post Different Aspects of Seeing a Shop Floor—Unevenness, Overburden, and Safety first appeared on AllAboutLean.com ..read more

In my last post I looked at some general tips on how to see the shop floor. Most of them involve focusing on the right areas of the shop floor, and avoiding interesting but not relevant technical details. This post will discuss different aspects that can be observed. Here, too, try not to see everything ... Read more The post Different Aspects of Seeing a Shop Floor—Visual Management, 5S, and Waste first appeared on AllAboutLean.com ..read more

I am in the lucky position of seeing a lot of different shop floors through my work. This requires me to quickly understand what is going on on the shop floor and to estimate how well the shop floor is managed. What my hosts tell me and what I see unfortunately does not always match. ... Read more The post Different Aspects of Seeing a Shop Floor—Introduction first appeared on AllAboutLean.com ..read more

In manufacturing, a common sentiment is that the line (or generally the process) must run. There is some truth to that, but—counterintuitively—for a system to run well you need to know when to stop it too. This is my second post in a series giving you an overview on when it may be better to ... Read more The post Keep Calm and Stop the Line—Part 2 first appeared on AllAboutLean.com ..read more