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Why don’t we take smaller batches on non-bottleneck lines?
A cursory look at the ‘Minimum Production Batch’ requirement of leading companies is quite revealing. Production teams push for bigger batches and resist attempts to cut it down.
I can understand it, to some extent, on a bottleneck line, where every minute of changeover could possibly lead to loss of throughput. SMED is the right approach to tackle such cases, by reducing changeover times.
What about non-bottlenecks? These have spare capacity, by definition. If we reduce their batch size and switch more frequently to improve flow, there is no adverse impact on throughput. We improve flow without any negative consequences, whatsoever.
The poor practice of large batches on non-bottleneck lines continues unabated.
What do you think is the reason for this behaviour?