Gaining Control: Exploring Push v. Pull Manufacturing

As the economy begins to refocus, so too do manufacturers. More and more analysts and industry experts are writing about “the factory of the future” and the enablement of demand-driven systems to drive velocity and on-time production while effectively managing the inevitable constraints.

Legacy ERP and Push-based MRP systems are hard-pressed to support the Lean and demand-driven Pull-based production environments of today.

And while Pullbased systems are more and more becoming a way to bridge the old and the new, they require a shift in philosophy as well as a shift in IT systems. Flexible, plug-in solutions like Kanban systems, however, are a seemingly efficient (and non-disruptive) way to bridge the gap for those looking to gain greater control by implementing or expanding upon Lean principles.

This is the first in a series of papers exploring the nature of Pull-based manufacturing systems and specifically, Kanban systems. The focus of this paper is at the system, or workflow level, while subsequent publications will review Pull/Kanban systems from a management, customer and competitive standpoint. After reading this paper, you will have a good understanding of both Pull and Push-based manufacturing systems and your choices for systems within a Pull environment. After reading the collection of papers, you should have a 360-degree perspective of the impact of a Pull/Kanban system in an organization.