One-Piece Flow vs. Batching A Guide to Understanding How Continuous Flow Maximizes Productivity and Customer Value

Although batching often appears more efficient than one-piece flow for individual tasks, the practice creates waste for other parts of the organization that more than offset its perceived benefits. A silent productivity killer, batching is an extremely difficult mindset to overcome and, as a result, numerous Lean initiatives have been destroyed by it.This book argues the case for one-piece flow over batching. It identifies the eight root causes of batching, the wastes created from batching, how batching drives the eight wastes, and the advantages of one-piece flow.One-Piece Flow vs. Batching: A Guide to Understanding How Continuous Flow Maximizes Productivity and Customer Value provides concrete arguments as to why batching, while sometimes necessary, is never the most efficient solution for most processes. It explains why flow, especially one-piece flow or continuous flow, should always be your ultimate objective when driving for increased productivity in any process.Using case studies to illustrate how to channel current mindsets toward one-piece flow as the preferred operation, the book is designed to support anyone involved in continuous improvement activities. It provides the tools and understanding you will need to overcome resistance to implementing flow and, in particular, one-piece flow processes—whether it be on the factory floor or in a banking office.

The Silent Productivity KillerThe Initial Source of InspirationWhat Is Batching?A Brief Example of Batch vs. FlowTimeout 1Who Batches … and What’s the Big Deal If It’s "Me?"We All BatchTypes of BatchingProcess DefinitionTime Out 2Batching SystemsThe CrossFit StoryI’m Going to Need a Few More ExamplesLet’s Get into This a Little Deeper, Shall We?A Very Detailed Comparison of Batching to One-Piece FlowSo, What Problems Are Created by Our Batching Example Listed Above?When Do We Get Our First Pen?What Is Flow?How Does Batch Compare to One-Piece Flow?So, What Differences Do We See between Batching and One-Piece Flow?Station-Balanced LineWhen Do We Get Our First Pen?So Which System Is More Efficient?Batching ModelHow Do You Improve a Batch System?What Impact Does Size Have?What Impact Does This Smaller Lot Size Have?Other Ideas?Timeout 3The Eight Root Causes of BatchingHow the Batch Process Occurs: Like It or Not,Sometimes We Have to Batch—Or Do We?Timeout 4Wow, You’re RightThe Eight Root Causes of Batching Continued EquipmentProcessesIdle TimeSpaceTimeout 5Why We Batch and Why It Hurts Our CompanyTimeout 6Batchards?What Problems Come with the Batching Paradox?The One-Piece Flow ParadoxLight Shined on the Hidden Costs of BatchingBatching Is Bad!Timeout 7Timeout 8Wherever There Is Excess Inventory, a Problem IsLurkingAre You Working on What You Really Need?Timeout 9Errors and DefectsWhen One Is Bad They Are All BadBatching Means Lost OpportunitiesWhich Came First, Batching or the Eight Wastes?Batching Is the Root Cause of the Eight WastesLittle’s LawThe Easy Way OutDebunking the MythsBatching MythsMyth: Batching Is Quicker than One-Piece FlowThe One Time When Batching Is Actually Faster thanOne-Piece FlowMyth: One-Piece Flow Will Make Us Robots!Myth: Centralizing Is BetterBatching Is a Hard Habit to BreakTimeout 10"Batching Habit Story"Batching vs. One-Piece FlowBatching in Factories or OfficesPrebuilding and Outsourcing Are Forms of Batching!Batching (Like One-Piece Flow) Is a SystemHow Do You Sustain One-Piece Flow?Will People Pay More for One-Piece Flow?Engineering Changes in a Batch SystemThe Human Factor of Why We BatchOne-Piece/Person FlowBatch vs. Flow ExampleOne-Piece Flow vs. Small LotParallel Processing vs. BatchingParallel ProcessingAnother Example of Parallel ProcessingTimeout 11The Gray Area between Batch and Flow: GroupTechnologyTrue Mixed-Model SequencingTimeout 12Timeout 13One-Piece Flow ExerciseWhat Is Bumping?Under the RocksBatching vs. Flow: What’s in It for You to Abandon the Batching Paradigm?Are You Ready for One-Piece Flow?Are You Ready for One-Piece Flow? A Case StudyTransitioning to a Flow-based CultureWhy Change?Timeout 14SummaryOne-Piece Flow ConsultingAppendix Index

Charles Protzman, MBA, CPM, formed Business Improvement Group (B.I.G.) LLC in November 1997. B.I.G. is located in Baltimore, Maryland, and specializes in implementing Lean thinking principles and the Lean business delivery system—LBDS. Charles has over 34 years of experience in materials and operations management. He spent 13 and a half years with AlliedSignal, now Honeywell, where he was an aerospace strategic operations manager and the first AlliedSignal Lean master. He has received numerous special-recognition and cost-reduction awards.Joe McNamara is president and chief executive officer of McNamara Holdings, which include TTarp Inc. Joe was formerly the vice president of Global Operations of ITT Control Technologies based in Valencia, California. Prior to becoming vice-president of operations, Joe was general manager of ITT Heat Transfer in Cheektowaga, New York. He led the introduction of Lean Six Sigma into the $400 M, ITT Fluid Handling Division as Six Sigma Champion with 12 Six Sigma Black Belts in the United States and Canada. Outside of work, Joe enjoys spending time with his wife, Karen, participating in ultra-marathons, and reading www.biglean.com. Daniel Protzman has been the director of customer solutions for the Business Improvement Group since 2014. With four years’ experience in the health-care field, Daniel brings an interesting perspective to the company. Daniel’s previous medical recruiting and staffing company went through a major series of transitions in his tenure, where he was able to help guide the company in a positive direction. He was a source of knowledge for the process improvement team and eventually left that company to follow his true calling in continuous improvement. Daniel is a certified MBTI practitioner and holds a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech.