![]() I’ve found that the discussion is very lively because the participants have experienced and have visually seen the difference between a push versus a pull system. Assuming you’ve introduced the concept of Kanban, ask the participants what represented the concept of Kanban in the airplane game.If you managed an assembly line, which method would you choose? Push System or a Pull System? Why?.For Station 1 and Station 2, what was the difference in Idle Time between both Round 2 and Round 3? Is Idle Time necessarily a bad thing we should avoid or eliminate? Why?.Is lower WIP necessarily better than higher WIP? Why or why not?.Inventory – why was there lower inventory build-up in the Pull System than the Push System?.Why was the cycle time of Round 3 “Pull System” Run lower than Round 2 “Push System” Run?.Was there any finger pointing or blaming or cynicism? Why?.Where was the bottleneck? How do you know?.Do the similar step for the other staging areas. In other words, place 1 airplane halfway folded between Station 1 and Station 2. The Facilitator places 1 unit of WIP in the staging areas between workers.The Layout for Round 3 looks like the following: A worker cannot put unless the staging area is empty.Worker 3 and Worker 4: Outbox for 3 and Inbox for 4.Worker 2 and Worker 3: Outbox for 2 and Inbox for 3.Worker 1 and Worker 2: Outbox for 1 and Inbox for 2.The staging area between the workstations is the outbox from the previous worker and the inbox for the proceeding worker.In between the work stations, there is a staging area for Work-in-Process (WIP) – a plane that’s partly finished.You no longer need the manager and material handler, only the timer. In Round 3, we will illustrate a pull system. Goal: complete 20 airplanes at the Finished Goods Station.The quality will be monitored by the QA associate and only he/she can specify quality rejects.Instruct workers to work at a comfortable pace, but there is a bonus for producing finished planes faster rather than slower.Reminder that the first part of the video (Round 1) is an optional simulation around craft production. Watch the 18 minute video example below to see how to facilitate the Paper Airplane Game and help your audience see the difference between Push Production and Pull Production. In Round 2, we will illustrate a push system. Planes are to be assembled according to the instructions below: Worker 1: Worker 2: We will use the layout above for both Round 2 and Round 3, but Round 3 will have a slight difference in between workstations. The layout of the assembly line is as follows: The game goes like this (starting with Round 2): ParticipantsĬollect data according to the table below: A simpler version is to use two rounds: Mass production (Round 2) and Cellular Assembly (Round 3). This is an optional part of the simulation. In the videos below, they start with a craft assembly simulation for Round 1, where all 6 workers are used, and one person is the timer. The paper airplane game is a simple exercise that illustrates in a visible and experiential way the difference between pull systems and push systems. There are many games that help better explain the sometimes counter intuitive concepts of Lean. As I teach the principles of Lean Manufacturing to others, I include games that are both fun and also illustrate the concepts in a way that are memorable and solidifies the concepts more clearly in the student’s mind.
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