A Plain English Guide to Modern Manufacturing Methods

September 3rd, 2010

Methods of manufacturing – and the manufacturing software that enable them – have changed a great deal since the Ford assembly line, shifting from the rigid, push-oriented production principles of the early 20th century to more flexible, pull principles. If you find yourself wondering what a pull principle is, you’ve come to the right place.

Put simply, assembly line manufacturers historically pushed mass production ahead based on estimates of future demand, which often resulted in wasted effort and resources when customers failed to produce the estimated demand. Modern companies can’t afford this kind of waste, so they wait for actual demand to pull production forward, manufacturing products when they’ve been requested by customers or when the previous batch of products has sold out.

Read the full article on The Manufacturing Blog by Stephen Jannise