Implementation of continuous flow manufacturing in United States industries

Abstract

Continuous Flow Manufacturing (CFM) is one of the key strategies to enable the United States industries to adapt to any volume increase and rapidly changing requirements of the market place. CFM is an on-going analysis and improvement activity used to optimize the efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility of any process. The two basic goals of CFM are to reduce cycle time to less than customer order leadtime and to eliminate inefficiencies from the overall manufacturing processes. The thesis will describe reasons for the scarcity of CFM in United States industries. The methodology applied was a detailed six page questionnaire sent to over thirty-five industries in United States, using CFM as a part in their manufacturing operations. The research focused on difficulties experienced during preparation and implementation of CFM. The theoretical research and the questionnaire analysis revealed that CFM is indeed partially culture-based, difficult to understand, not easy to accept and hard enough to implement. Although the research was taken from a stratified sample of already known CFM implementors, full scale implementation fell very short. In fact, most industries in United States seemed to be engaged in preparing for CFM. Hopefully, the information presented will help the United States industries to formulate plans and strategies to implement further actions that will lead to more efficiency and effectiveness in their manufacturing operations.