Variation is at the root cause of almost all waste in manufacturing and business systems. It is no coincidence then that variability reduction is the foundation for the Toyota Production System (Lean Thinking) and its success in continuously reducing waste. Two games of chance with dice and cards illustrate the linkage between variation and waste. […]
Discrete Event Simulation
Manufacturing Plan Verification
Our dynamic economy is characterized by constant change. New products are brought to market, achieve commercial success, and then are made obsolete by something better, faster, cheaper. An essential element in successful product creation is manufacturing plan verification. A manufacturing plan is a comprehensive compilation of all the facts, figures, and assumptions around making something […]
Simulation Output Reports
Discrete Event Simulation is a portal to the future: find constraints, test strategies to break them, improve performance to the goal, maximize investment returns, and reduce risk. Shown below are three powerful simulation output reports. Time in State. Time in state simulation output reports are especially useful in finding the constraint in the process. Before […]
Discrete Event Simulation
Discrete event simulation provides a dynamic view of the value stream as well the ability to run “what-if” experiments to predict the effectiveness of changes. As such, discrete event simulation is a very powerful tool to maximize operational and investment efficiency and to find robust solutions that mitigate risk. A discrete event simulation is built […]
Balanced and Dependent Systems
The ten machine puzzle in my Theory of Constraints blog post is a simple example of the balanced and dependent systems that are surprisingly frequent in the real world. Balanced because all elements have the same capacity. Dependent because events at one element affect the performance of other elements. Frequent because lean thinking drives people and […]