Hey everyone, welcome to this lecture, what is continuous process flow? continuous process flow is a method in which items are produced and moved from one processing step to the next one piece at a time. Each process makes only the one piece that the next process needs. continuous process flow is also termed as one piece flow or single piece flow. If you are thinking of implementing lean in your organization, the best way is to create continuous flow wherever applicable creating continuous flow can be in core manufacturing or in service processes. You have been hearing that lean is all about elimination of waste.
That is one side of the coin. The other side is lean is also all about creating a continuous flow flow means that when your customer places an order, this triggers the process of obtaining the raw materials needed just for that customer's order. The raw materials then flow immediately to supplier plants, where workers assemble the order, and then the completed order flows immediately to the customer. The whole process should take a few hours or days, rather than a few weeks or months. taiichi Ohno, the creator of Toyota Production System, noted that the idea of one piece flow or continuous flow is not a reality. It takes time and patience to achieve flow.
Inventory buffers are used judiciously, well, continuous flow is not possible. You will learn more about this in the upcoming lectures. continuous flow in practical reality means using small lots having processes close together Keeping the material moving through processes without interruption. This kind of a process is anytime better than producing large batches of material and having them sit in the inventory and wait when to use a continuous process flow like many other lean tools and techniques, continuous process flow is not a one time activity. The objective is to create flow where it is possible and continuously improve in the direction of better flow. Even if you implement inventory buffers in places where pure one piece flow is not possible.
The focus is to reduce the inventory over time to improve flow. Why use a continuous process flow? Creating a continuous process flow reduces the time taken from processing of raw materials to finished goods or services. This further results in best quality, lowest cost and shortest delivery time, you can create a continuous process flow of materials, as well as have information. It exposes inefficiencies that demand immediate solutions. With that description, we come to the end of this lecture.
Thank you for attending. See you in the next one.