CHAPTER 10: PROCESS SYNCHRONIZATION AND IMPROVEMENT
10.1 Objective
This chapter concludes with a big picture involving flows of information and material between different
processes in a processing network with the objective of making products available to customers on time
and at low cost. The chapter covers three main themes: just-in-time operations within a plant, supply
chain management across plants, and process improvement. We start by defining continuous flow as the
Another approach is to use parts of this chapter earlier on as motivation for studying other chapters. For
example, one may use the first part of this chapter as motivation for managing operations within an
organization, as in chapters 4-9. and the second part of the chapter later on as managing a supply chain.
Thus, after chapters 1-5 on operations strategy and basic process analysis, we have used a “house–
building simulation”, as a hands-on process improvement exercise in class. It demonstrates principles of
streamlining operations within a plant, including cellular layout and pull system. We then study the
10.2 Additional Suggested Readings
To discuss just-in–time operations, we have used an in class simulation where we divide the class into
teams of about ten students. Each team has to build houses from paper, using scissors, staplers, tapes.
We specify a functional layout where all cutters are in one location, all tapers in another, etc., with
material handlers moving the material between them. We measure total flow time, inventory, defective
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In addition to the Zipkin’s article cited at the end of the chapter, we have assigned various one pagers on
just in time from Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Economist, etc.
For the supply chain management part of this chapter, we start by asking why inventories build up in the
house game. We develop economies of scale and variability in supply/demand as the reasons, leading to