Lesson 3. Production Is Music
The Next Process Is Your Customer
In Japan, it is not hard to find factories that have “The Next
Process Is Your Customer” signs posted here and there.
Usually, this saying is understood as referring to the need to
provide good quality and to prevent defects. In other words,
since the next process is your customer, be sure to deliver
only the best products.
However, if you have a close look at these factories, you
will find that many of them operate completely under a “push”
method of production. This robs some of the true meaning
from “The Next Process Is Your Customer” slogan.
When looked at in terms of how goods are moved through
the line, there are only two types of production methods.
(See Figure 2.7.)
The first is the method in which workpieces that have been
finished at one process are immediately sent on to the next
process. This is what we call “push” production. Sometimes
this method calls for transfer tags to be attached to each
workpiece, and the tag is marked each time the workpiece
is transferred downstream. In this method, the movement