One-Piece Flow: Cell Design for Transforming the Production Process

By reconfiguring your traditional assembly lines into production cells based on one-piece flow, you can drastically reduce your lead time, staffing requirements, and number of defects. Kenichi Sekine studied under the late Shigeo Shingo and is responsible for many recent advances in the deployment of the Toyota Production System in Japan. In this comprehensive book, Sekine provides an in-depth education into the why's and how's of the restructuring process.

Sekine first examines the basic principles of process flow building, then offers detailed case studies of how various industries designed unique one-piece flow systems (parallel, L-shaped, and U-shaped floor plans) to meet their particular needs. One-Piece Flow describes each step in the process of establishing one-piece flow and: (1) provides ample "test your skills" worksheets that guide you through the solution of problems, and (2) includes over 300 illustrations and 14 single-page case studies that show how to cut assembly personnel in various industries.

With this book, plant managers will learn how to eliminate overstaffing waste and build a multi-skilled work force equipped to support JIT manufacturing.

The book includes:

• Basic concept of one-piece production
• Case studies
• Process razing techniques
• U-shaped cells for assembly lines
• Techniques for removing waste from factories
• Establishing one-piece flow at a factory that produces small lots on a customer-order basis
• "Single" delivery at MYNAC

Kenichi Sekine