Heijunka

Heijunka is a Japanese term for a level loading of demand and is a fundamental component of a pull system.

It s also known as production levelling or production smoothing and its aim is to produce items at a constant rate so that they flow through the production process with minimum lead time and no waiting.


In any process, there are fluctuations in performance (for a variety of valid reasons). Heijunka seeks to level the fluctuations and the system is constantly monitored as part of a continuous improvement policy.





Stacks Image 24




If you have a constant demand, production levelling is an easy process. However, for most organisations, customer demand demand fluctuates so a twin approach is required

1) demand levelling at the sales order entry point and
2) production levelling against known throughput capacities based upon the product mix at any point in time

To prevent fluctuations in production and to optimise revenue it is important to minimize fluctuation in the final process and to ensure that every preceding product/service flows smoothly to and through the end process.

This where the concept of
one piece flow is put into action. However, to accommodate this philosophy any change over time in the flow lines must be small so that they do not inhibit flow.

This is why
SMED (single minute exchange of dies originated by Shigeo Shingo) is an integral part of heijunka.



Resources?


You will find a number of
resources to assist you in your understanding of lean - please feel free to browse our content and let us know if you require anything further.

Contact Us


tel: +44 7307 193 258
email: webadmin@kaizenworld.com
twitter: @kaizenworld_com

© 2023 Kaizenworld ®

We do not employ cookies across our site to gather your personal information. You can access our privacy policy here - Privacy Policy