Kaizen Through Heijunka Production (Leveled Production)

Katsuya Koide; Takeshi Iwata

doi:10.4271/2007-01-3886

2007-09-17

Kaizen Through Heijunka Production (Leveled Production) 2007-01-3886

Heijunka production, a core element of Toyota Motor Company's well-known Just-in-Time production methodology, was developed to deliver vehicle orders in the shortest lead time, with minimum inventory and maximum production efficiency. It achieves this by averaging (“leveling out”) production quantity and model. Adaptable to any production environment, the Heijunka production is an effective tool for industries with low-mix/low-volume production systems. In our case study, a manufacturer of interior subassembly items for commercial jets implemented Heijunka production and achieved significant improvement in inter-process inventory, lead time and productivity. Most notably, inter-process inventory was reduced to 20% in just five years.

SAE MOBILUS

Subscribers can view annotate, and download all of SAE's content. Learn More »

Access SAE MOBILUS »

Digital $37.00 Print $37.00

Preview Document

We also recommend:

Standards

SAE Mobilus®

Publications

News

Events

Professional Development

A World in Motion (PreK-12)

Participate with SAE

SAE Membership

Donate

Kaizen Through Heijunka Production (Leveled Production) 2007-01-3886

SAE MOBILUS