Editorial Review:
Until now, many experts thought the application of Lean manufacturing in complex and variable environments was impossible in most cases. Level scheduling and standard processes, two hallmarks of Lean manufacturing, are difficult to achieve in industries that produce complex products that must be customized for specific applications. The widely varying processing times that result from the fabrication of different combinations of sub assemblies required for products in such categories make the maintenance of continuous flow, another hallmark of Lean manufacturing, seem an insurmountable goal. But the authors of this book, international consultants to companies turning out such products, have found ways to deal with these challenges and to employ Lean manufacturing techniques in order to maximize labor, plant and equipment productivity. A key aspect of the methodology explained is the use of sophisticated scheduling software to eliminate bottlenecks and to minimize downtime in the pursuit of continuous flow. Another is to lay out production lines in a way that arranges the different machines used to create product variations so that each product variation can be routed through assembly on the shortest and most efficient path. Depending on the level of customization, one may take a direct route while another requiring more work might be diverted to a side track. The authors compare this to local trains that take side trips off the main line while express trains continue on to arrive at the terminal sooner. Mr. Larco and his team believe that high customization, low cost, quick turnaround, and diminishing volumes characterize the future of this type of manufacturing. If a company can set these as goals and achieve them, it will have important strategic advantages over the competition. Specialized products generally cost significantly more than standard, off the shelf models. By using Lean manufacturing techniques, however, the authors maintain that this no longer must be so. They say that whatever the industry, whether it be automotive, apparel, electronics, consumer products, white goods, industrial products, or anything in between, the issues are similar and so are the solutions. This book will give executives in these categories a vision of what can be done to jump ahead of their competitors.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Clear Direction on How to Create Flow Even When It May Seem Impossible  2008-06-15
As anyone even vaguely familiar with lean manufacturing knows, the key to attaining high productivity, lower costs and high quality is to keep things flowing continuously from the arrival of parts, through the assembly of components that come together just when needed in final assembly, and then move out the door to the loading dock and onto trucks bound for customers. But how do you do that when what you build may have dozens of configurations and call for a host of different subassemblies based on customer needs and wants -- when many subassemblies, for example, tend to create bottlenecks and throw the best laid plans into disarray? Larco and his team show and tell how with charts and graphs and in jargon-free prose that anyone can easily understand. They explain and give examples of how to configure such an assembly operation so units requiring work that others do not can be routed onto side tracks, eventually to return to the main line. They also explain that the scheduling function is key. New software applications, for example, can calculate the right order for the queue and determine when the work on subassemblies must be initiated for everything to come together at the right time and in the right place. This is a must-read book anyone interested in creating the most productive possible build-to-order, complex and variable assembly environment.
cellular production primer - little novel content  2007-12-31
As a lean practitioner, I have read numerous books on the topic. I have enjoyed "Lean Transformation", another book of which Mr. Larco is co-author, and had high hopes for "Build to Order".
As Lean Thinking moves outward from high-volume, low-variation factory environments, practitioners need an excellent reference for the applications that look like something other than a Toyota production line. This book addresses a subset of that need, but, in the opinion of this reader, falls short of the subtitle, "complex and variable environments." The central chapters of this book are essentially a description for developing dedicated production cells and aligning other business functions to support cellular production. As such, other books on cellular production offer more detailed analysis, clearer implementation steps, and richer examples.
For some companies that are beginning their Lean Transformation, this book may prove useful, but mostly as a way to begin their familiarization, and not as a reference that details how to solve the real-world complexities they will inevitably encounter.
For readers who need more theory, detail, discussion, and practical examples, you may be interested in Greg Lane's 2007 Made-to-Order Lean.
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