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Examples of Job Shop to Flow Shop Conversions

Christoph Roser — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 11:00:18 +0000

I am a strong believer in the advantage of flow shops. To me, job shops are an inherently chaotic system. While there are ways to manage job shops, these are merely (more or less) successful attempts to put a Band-Aid on the chaos. To me, only a conversion to a flow shop will bring underlying ... Read more

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Performance Comparison of Job Shop and Flow Shop

Christoph Roser — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 11:00:51 +0000

Job shops are, in their nature, much more chaotic than flow shops. Previously, I have written a lot on this topic. In this post I would like to take a deeper and quantitative look at this effect. Using simulations, we take two systems and try to make them as identical as possible – except that ... Read more

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How to Convert a Job Shop into a Flow Shop – Part 2

Christoph Roser — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 11:00:07 +0000

Turning job shops into flow shops is not easy. This is my second post explaining such transformations as I try to help you in improving your shop floor from an (always) messy job shop into a much more efficient flow shop. Add Flexibility Another possibility to consider is the flexibility of your processes. Can you ... Read more

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How to Convert a Job Shop into a Flow Shop – Part 1

Christoph Roser — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 11:00:19 +0000

Job shops are always very difficult to manage. As I described in my previous posts, the irregular material flow causes fluctuations that are very hard to contain. In my view, the only true fix for a job shop is to convert it into a flow shop. In this post I will talk a little bit ... Read more

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Why Are Job Shops Always Such a Chaotic Mess? Part 2

Christoph Roser — Tue, 26 May 2020 11:00:38 +0000

Job shops are a mess. Period. The increased and uneven levels of inventory cause a host of other problems. In my last post I described how these inventory imbalances are caused by irregular material flow, how subsequent safety buffers increase inventory even more, and how this causes staff to change their workplace irregularly in a ... Read more

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Why Are Job Shops Always Such a Chaotic Mess? Part 1

Christoph Roser — Tue, 19 May 2020 11:00:39 +0000

Job shops have a strong tendency toward chaos. Even well managed plants struggle to maintain order in a job shop. This is due to the inherent nature of a job shop, and there are no good solutions to manage job shops. The only good way to improve a job shop is to turn it into ... Read more

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Calculating the Number of POLCA Cards

Christoph Roser — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 11:00:02 +0000

In my previous posts I explained how POLCA works and discussed the pros and cons of POLCA. In this post I will explain how to calculate the number of POLCA cards. While POLCA is overall a feasible method, I do have some critical comments on the method to calculate the number of POLCA cards. How ... Read more

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Advantages and Disadvantages of POLCA

Christoph Roser — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 11:00:54 +0000

In my previous post I described how POLCA (Paired-Cell Overlapping Loops of Cards) is supposed to work. Now let me look at the advantages and disadvantages of the method. Overall POLCA is a valid method of managing job shops. If it is the right one for you depends very much on your production system. Benefits ... Read more

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