jueves, 18 de diciembre de 2014

Pitch and Heijunka (ピッチと平準化) – Part 1 of 2


Pitch at the Pace maker

Definition of Pitch / Mizusumashi Cycle

         Pitch refers to how often we release and take away work from the pacemaker

         The amount of time needed in a production area to make one container of products

         It is a measurement of how the value stream, or more specifically the pacemaker, is performing to our schedule (Takt)

Takt = The Customer Demand Rate

Pacemaker = The point at which we schedule the production

Pitch = How we measure the pacemaker to see if it is attaining Takt

Pitch is mainly established at the Pacemaker process only. It provides a sense of pace to the line and helps insure that completions are achieved at predetermined intervals of time.

Management Time Frame

         If we release and take away work from the pacemaker ,once a week, there is no Takt image

          If we schedule and check production every pitch, we can rapidly respond to problems and maintain Takt time

          Also, transfer of materials can be in smaller batch

Creating Pitch at the Pacemaker


Pitch Interval

With a Pitch of 24 minutes and effective work time of 430 minutes per shift, we can establish the number of Pitch Intervals per shift

Pitch Intervals = 430/24 ~ 19





This ideal condition may not always be present due to:

         Package sizes seldom work out to exact multiples

         Family groups with work content >30% violate Pitch

         Set Up times must be added to the Pitch when expected to take place

Pitch Example






From Pitch to Heijunka…. See part 2.

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