What is The Difference Between Lean and Demand Driven Flow Technology?

What’s the difference between Lean and Demand Driven Flow Technology? That’s the one question I have been asked the most in the last 18 years.

Where Do Lean and Demand Driven Flow Technology Differ

The main difference between the two is that Lean is all about the pursuit of perfection improving area by area with small incremental improvements whereas Demand Driven Flow Technology is a complete manufacturing strategy aimed at a rapid step-change transformation within a manufacturing facility. In short, Demand Driven Flow Technology is all about Flow.

Lean has numerous tools with each focused to a particular activity to facilitate continuous improvement of a specific process within the overall manufacturing environment. Some examples from the Lean Toolbox are 6S (safety has been added), 5-Whys, Kaizen, SMED and PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act)…the list goes on.

Demand Driven Flow Technology also has a series of tools but they are connected within a transformation framework to facilitate a step-change in business performance. With Demand Driven Flow Technology it’s like a “big bang” with companies experiencing a complete paradigm shift. During, and in particular, following a DDFT transformation, Lean tools are utilised to obtain further incremental improvements. For instance, when we design a new production environment we would always look to use 6S to help in the definition what the process and operation should look like, but only once we know what the resource requirements are and we had balanced the process. Furthermore, if we are also implementing Kanban material replenishment, then we would also need to know what material is required at each of the balanced operations.

Random Acts of Lean

Most of the time we come across companies that speak about there Lean projects using an extensive Lean toolbox, we find the benefits achieved from these projects are subsequently absorbed by the inefficiencies of downstream processes. Improvements are not connected to generate bottom-line improvement. We call this “Random Acts of Lean”. For instance, a SMED activity may reduce the setup of a machine thereby improving the overall capacity of the machine and daily mix of products produced. However, the products produced on the machine then sit in WIP for days at the next process. So all that has happened is that the company was able to make more WIP faster. The customer didn’t get the product any quicker.

With Demand Driven Flow Technology we create a complete flow through a manufacturing environment synchronizing and balancing each process step to the demand requirement of the facility. This then ensures that lead times and WIP inventory are reduced

Demand Driven Manufacturing Solutions

We provide our customers with Demand Driven transformational manufacturing solutions are focused to creating synchronized and balanced flow through factories around the world, compressing lead times and reducing inventory to generate sustainable bottom-line benefits. Our clients achieve sustainable operational capabilities developing Demand Driven solutions that create a competitive advantage in their marketplace.

Transformational Benefits Achieved by Our Global Client Base

Manufacturing and supply chain operations are challenging. We hear from C-Level executives all of the time that business improvement projects fail to deliver bottom-line benefits for the business. Our array of business improvement solutions solve this problem. We help our clients to leverage the skills of their organization along with our knowledge and expertize of Demand Driven manufacture and supply chain methodologies to deliver rapid and sustainable benefits.

Examples of the bottom-line sustainable results we achieve can be reviewed here:

• Demand Driven Flow Technology Benefits – Review of an Implementation
• High Impact Coaching & Strategies Solutions and Benefits Overview

Further Information

Previous High Impact Insights:

• What is Demand Driven Flow Technology
• Demand Driven Flow Technology Tools
• Demand Driven Flow Technology Benefits – Review of an Implementation
• What is DDMRP?
• MRP – Solution or Problem
• Adapt or Die – Become Demand Driven
• Supply Chain Brain: DDMRP as an Emerging Disruptive Supply Chain Capability
• What Does VUCA Mean?

LinkedIn Information:

• Previous LinkedIn Articles by Sandy Goodwin
• LinkedIn Profile: Sandy Goodwin

Talk to us today to learn more about how we can help your organization become Demand Driven through the adoption of our Demand Driven methodologies, DDMRP and Demand Driven Flow Technology.