Heijunka A lean manufacturing Tool for Production Levelling

Heijunka is a Japanese term that means levelling. In the lean manufacturing concept, Heijunka refers to the term production levelling in order to improve the process flow to meet customer demands, eliminate waste and reduce the usage of batch processing. A stepping stone for the Toyota production system, Heijunka facilitates in developing the production efficiency.

In fact, Toyota was the first to realize that batching or any other traditional production system is a non-reliable way to counter infrequent orders without getting affected by uneven productivity levels, overburdening of machines, inconsistent product quality, all of which will ultimately lead to the waste.

By reducing unevenness and eliminating batching in production, Heijunka results in smaller inventories, lower costing, and reduces the overburdening on employees as well. That way an organization can produce products at a constant pace without worrying about fluctuations. This tool aims at increases the overall profitibility, productivity and efficiency.