Creating Level Pull (EN)

Leveling and Pull: Masterful Creation in Complex Environments - A Practical Workbook
Dive deep into the art of leveling and pull with this practical workbook, which uses a realistic fictional case study to reveal and unravel the most complex scenarios, exceptions and special situations.

Leveling and pull are among the best known elements within Lean. Value Stream Mapping leads you to determine where continuous flow cannot and thus pull is needed. As Lean greats Michael Ballé and Dan Jones emphasize on Planet Lean, "[You] need to fully master the mechanics of a pull system in its various forms [...] Pull is a technique specific to lean that creates the conditions for learning." This fundamental role in Lean and creating a learning organization means that leveling and pull deserve their own in-depth workbook.

With his unique expertise as a former Toyota employee in Japan, author Art Smalley leads you step by step through the complex process of creating level pull. He does this masterfully through a detailed real-world case study, teaching you about:

• two types of levelling (i.e. of the volume and of the mix)
• three types of pull (complementary pull, sequential pull and mixed pull), and how to choose
• three forms of pull in batch processes and many forms of pull in flexible processes
• three types of stock, and determining their required size
• the role of 5S
• four main types of kanban, and when to use which one

This may be the most challenging workbook in the series, but the rewards are commensurate: once operational, a working, leveled pull system will feel like true Lean magic. At the same time, you will only begin to truly grasp the surprising breadth and depth of Lean as a whole.

The chosen title, "How to create a levelized pull system" rather than "How to implement a levelized pull system," is deliberate and crucial. After all, levelized pull is not a standard blueprint you can just "implement. There are always many real causes and valid reasons why it cannot be done immediately in a given situation. This workbook therefore does not teach you to 'implement' leveled pull, but to learn to see and understand what needs to change in your specific situation, so that it is possible to create this powerful system.

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