ABSTRACT
Improving the plant layout enhances flow, simplifies management, reduces material handling, and reduces lead time. It can involve simply rearranging an area, installing some U-shaped cells, or undertaking a complete layout change that allows to switch from functional management to managing by value streams. In low-volume plants, the difficulty is compounded by a frequently changing schedule, so the day-to-day balancing between processes needs to be accomplished through the organization’s flexibility. Some high-mix plants find that as the demand for some part numbers increases, it is better to separate those parts and assemble them in discrete areas that are more efficiently set up. Although all lean methods should be considered in the future state layout, the most important is flow. Work toward the ideal state of one-piece flow, pulling in as many lean concepts as we can.
