http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_lineSimple example
Consider the assembly of a car: assume that certain steps in the assembly line are to install the engine, install the hood, and install the wheels (in that order, with arbitrary interstitial steps); only one of these steps can be done at a time. In traditional production, only one car would be assembled at a time. If engine installation takes 20 minutes, hood installation takes 5 minutes, and wheel installation takes 10 minutes, then a car can be produced every 35 minutes.
In an assembly line, car assembly is split between several stations, all working simultaneously. When one station is finished with a car, it passes it on to the next. By having three stations, a total of three different cars can be operated on at the same time, each one at a different stage of its assembly.
After finishing its work on the first car, the engine installation crew can begin working on the second car. While the engine installation crew works on the second car, the first car can be moved to the hood station and fitted with a hood, then to the wheels station and be fitted with wheels. After the engine has been installed on the second car, the second car moves to the hood assembly. At the same time, the third car moves to the engine assembly. When the third car’s engine has been mounted, it then can be moved to the hood station; meanwhile, subsequent cars (if any) can be moved to the engine installation station.
Assuming no loss of time when moving a car from one station to another, the longest stage on the assembly line determines the throughput (20 minutes for the engine installation) so a car can be produced every 20 minutes, once the first car taking 35 minutes has been produced.
VERY LIMITED SLACK: Toyota Motor Company
The Toyota Production System was created by Taiichi Ohno, the chief engineer of Toyota Motor Company in the years
following the second world war. Ohno based his "lean production" system on the elimination of all wasted time and rework from the mass production system of the American auto manufacturers. Toyota's Takaoka Assembly Plant produces
cars with a gross assembly time of under 18 hours, and with only 45 assembly defects per 100 cars. As a result of this
efficient production system, Toyota is able to produce high quality automobiles as one of the industries lowest cost
producers Toyota Motor Corporation is an example of a company with very limited slack evidenced by there being little or
Lean Manufacturing
producers. Toyota Motor Corporation is an example of a company with very limited slack evidenced by there being little or
no waste and inefficiency.
SOME SLACK: General Motors Corp.
GM's production system requires more than twice as many assembly hours to build a car as Toyota does. (40.7 hours at
G.M's Framingham Assembly Plant vs. 18.0 hours at Toyota's Takaoka plant.) Furthermore, GM workers rack up three
times as many defects as the Toyota workers (130 defects per 100 autos vs. 45 at Toyota). General Motors is an example
of a company which has some slack which could be eliminated.
http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/~cushm ... 1/Auto.pdf
Mercedes-Benz is restructuring its global production network to cut the average production time for its models to 30 hours by 2015 from 43 in 2008.
Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2012032 ... z1uK36SmTs