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Oracle Flow Manufacturing

Flow Manufacturing is an innovative manufacturing approach that aligns production with consumer demand. Flow manufacturing employs Just-In-Time (JIT) concepts such as manufacturing to demand (vs. forecast), production lines for families of products (vs. process layout), pull material using kanbans (vs. push material), backflush material and costs upon completion (vs. at each operation), and so on. This in turn helps decrease inventories, optimize machine utilization, reduce response time to customer needs, and simplify shop floor activities.

To prepare for flow manufacturing, you design production lines and production processes so that each line can produce a constantly changing mix of products within a family at a steady rate. Flow manufacturing production lines are designed to support the inter-mixed production of multiple products within a family on the same line. Line design includes grouping products into families, defining the processes and events required to produce each product, and grouping events into operations. By specifying demand rates for each product you can predict line capacities. As a part of line design, you will be able to specify demand forecasts for the products, derive TAKT times (also called Operational Cycle Time), and calculate optimal kanban quantities.

See Also

Flow Manufacturing Definitions

Overview of Flow Manufacturing Procedures

Assigning Product Family Members

Creating Flow Manufacturing Standard Processes

Defining Flow Manufacturing Line Operations

Creating Flow Manufacturing Standard Events

Mixed Model Map

Creating a Flow Routing

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