– Back to Lean Glossary –

Flow: What Is It?

Flow is defined as the Flow of a product as it moves through a process.  In Lean, the aim is “Continuous Flow”, where a product can move through the process stream uninhibited by queues, wait time, down time, re-work or other wastes, and with each step making only what is requested by the next step.

The ultimate Flow is “One Piece Flow”, where a product is made in as close to one place and time as possible and at the demand of the customer.

Flow production was introduced originally by Henry Ford, with the aim to drastically reduce human effort and the throughput time of the product.

– Back to Lean Glossary –