Pull System at Chipotle

A Pull system is a production method that creates product to match customer orders.

Imagine if you walked into a Chipotle (or Subway, Quizno's, Potbelly's, or any other quick-custom restaurant) and ordered your burrito, and you were told to hang on while they looked through the pile of already-made food for one that matched your order, if they could find one with all of your special requests. No one wants to eat an hours-old burrito.

Or, what if you ordered your burrito and then had to wait an hour while all of the ingredients were prepared? Fully customizable, you could opt out of lime in your rice, but your lunch hour is over before you eat.

Restaurants like Chipotle are working to strike the right balance between customizable (white or brown rice?) and ready to go (sorry, the cilantro is already in there). As soon as a customer walks in the door, the restaurant springs into action to fill the order. While that's happening, as well as before and after, other members of the team are working to resupply the assembly line with prepped ingredients like chopped vegetables so they don't run out.

Breweries as Benchmarks

Benchmarking is a great way to get ideas for equipment, processes, layout, and more.

The trouble is not every company that makes things is openly willing to let you inside. It's worth trying anyway, but in the meantime, breweries are famous for hosting tours and letting you take a peek. There is almost certainly a brewery near you that will give you a tour of the operation for a very reasonable fee (and often with tastes as well, if that's of interest!).

Holiday Shutdown

Many factories close between the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The quiet time in the holidays can be used for a few purposes:

• Deep cleaning without interruptions from production schedules
• Re-organization of factory layout
• Strategic planning off the factory floor
• Time off with no work at all

What is 5S?

5S is the set of activities used to keep the factory floor organized. Each of the five terms starts with "S": Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain.

An organized factory stays clean, ready to make product, and ready to receive visitors on a moment's notice. 5S gives you both style and substance and builds a foundation for other manufacturing activities. 

Gemba walk - where it happens

A "Gemba Walk" is the manufacturing term for the leadership at a factory walking on the plant floor.

The translation of gemba (from Japanese) is essentially "the real place" or "the place where it happens".

Embrace the auto-play of the Hamilton soundtrack in your head and take a walk around the entire floor when you arrive to the studio and before you leave. It makes problems stand out and gives you a sense for how everything is running. Even if you're the only one that works in your studio, there are often visual cues that will remind you of something you'd ordinarily forget, such as cleanup activities.

How to Fill - Liquids

Here are some ideas for pouring out liquid materials.

Home and Hobby: pour using a spout on a jug, place the liquid in a baker's piping bag, or into a ziptop bag and then cut the corner.

Small-Scale Manufacturing: Gravity fillers (for thin liquids): manually open and close a valve while the liquid runs into the container.

Medium-Scale Manufacturing: Piston fillers(for thin or thick liquids): piston fillers automatically measure the same volume into each container and can either be manual (hand pulled) or connected to a compressor to be activated by a foot pump.

Large-Scale Manufacturing: several connected and automated piston fillers in an in-line conveyor system, usually including a scale for a filled weight check and other process steps such as bottle sealing.

2-bin system, a backup battery for production

I just ran out of battery power while using a cordless drill.

Luckily, I didn't have to stop my project, because like most cordless drill users, I have 2 batteries. Whenever one runs out, I just pop on the backup. The spent battery charges while I keep going.

Having a 2-bin system in place is the same way with materials and WIP in a production system. You never need to stop a project to make more of the material you need when you have a full extra bin ready to go at all times.