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(EN) The (True) Difference Between Push and Pull

Juni 25, 2026Juni 2, 2015 von Christoph Roser

Push Pull Illustration — Common, but misleading illustration of push and pull

One of the key differences in lean production is to use pull production rather than push production. While pretty much everyone knows (at least in theory) how to implement it using kanban, the underlying fundamental differences are a bit more fuzzy. But what exactly is the difference between push and pull? Also, what makes pull systems so superior to push systems?

It turns out that most definitions are going in the wrong direction. Even the names „push“ and „pull“ are actually not well suited to describe the concept. Neither are common illustrations, including the one here in the upper left.

(EN) Lies, Damned Lies, and KPI – Part 3: Countermeasures

Oktober 31, 2025April 7, 2015 von Christoph Roser

Kid with Glasses — How to measure good KPIs

There is an inflation of key performance indicators (KPIs) in industry. In my last posts I have explained how KPIs are often wrong, and why bad and fudged KPIs are a huge waste. Yet, you cannot really run a larger corporation without KPI. In this post I will finally give some advice on (1) what you need to do to measure good KPI, and (2) how to avoid fudged KPI.

(EN) Lies, Damned Lies, and KPI – Part 2: Effects of Fudging

Oktober 31, 2025März 31, 2015 von Christoph Roser

Business fraud — About the ills of number fudging

Modern manufacturing works with a lot of performance measures, often called key performance indicators (KPIs). Unfortunately, they are rarely accurate, and often even intentionally misleading. In my previous post I described some examples of commonly manipulated KPIs. In this post I would like to explain the ugly consequences of incorrect or manipulated KPIs. In a final post I will also show some ways that you can reduce this negative effect. But first, how do bad KPIs (and hence most KPIs) hurt your company?

(EN) Lies, Damned Lies, and KPI – Part 1: Examples of Fudging

Oktober 31, 2025März 15, 2015 von Christoph Roser

Upward Trend — Don’t get too excited about your numbers!

Statistical measurements, usually called key performance indicators (KPIs) are found on pretty much every shop floor and in every company. Many management decisions are made based on KPI. Unfortunately, these numbers often are not reliable at all.

Mark Twain popularized the phrase „Lies, damned lies, and statistics.“ Winston Churchill famously said, “I only believe in statistics that I doctored myself.” Hence, both men were wary of trusting numbers. You should be too!

(EN) Introduction to One-Piece Flow Leveling – Part 2 Implementation

Dezember 10, 2025Januar 11, 2015 von Christoph Roser

One successful approach to leveling is one-piece flow leveling (also known as single-piece flow or continuous flow). Last week I described the theory. This week I talk about implementation, and its combination with capacity leveling. I also look at what else there is in leveling.

(EN) Introduction to One-Piece Flow Leveling – Part 1 Theory

Oktober 11, 2025Januar 4, 2015 von Christoph Roser

One successful approach to leveling is one-piece flow leveling, which I would like to talk about today. Another successful approach is capacity leveling. These can also be combined. (But please do yourself a favor and stay a way from a longer fixed repeating schedule EPEI leveling.) As the name already says, you should drive your lot size toward one. In addition to one-piece flow, this approach is also known as single-piece flow or continuous flow.

(EN) The Folly of EPEI Leveling in Practice – Part 2

Oktober 11, 2025Dezember 28, 2014 von Christoph Roser

In my last post, I started to show the main reasons why EPEI leveling with a fixed repeating schedule so often fails (for details on EPEI leveling, see Theory of Every Part Every Interval (EPEI) Leveling). This post continues with more reasons and also gives some advice on how to reduce the damage or even increase its chances of success. It also has a suggestion for a test to determine if your system is ready for leveling.

Again, there seems to be a lean religion that claims that putting up a leveling box will lead to salvation. Well, Lean is not a religion or magic. Lean is hard work, and you actually need to understand what you are doing. Just copying something without understanding is a good way to fail, especially with leveling.

(EN) The Folly of EPEI Leveling in Practice – Part 1

Oktober 11, 2025Dezember 21, 2014 von Christoph Roser

In my last post I presented the EPEI leveling pattern (also known as EPEC, EPEx, Heijunka, fixed repeating pattern, or simply leveling). While in theory this approach looks pretty solid, in my experience it rarely works in practice. In fact, most of these types of leveling that I have seen were complete rubbish. They were a dog-and-pony-show to please management at the expense of performance and shop floor efficiency.

Furthermore, lean manufacturing seems often to be confused with a religion. People believe that if you put up a leveling box your manufacturing system will have salvation. Well, Lean is not a religion. Lean is hard work, and you actually need to understand what you are doing. Just copying something without understanding is a good way to fail, especially with leveling.