By Mike Hart
A core principle of lean manufacturing is to not overload your shop. Overloading the shop has the same negative impact on efficiency as overloading a freeway.
The Freeway Analogy
A freeway has an optimal carrying capacity in terms of the number of vehicles it can accommodate for maximum efficiency. Once that carrying capacity is exceeded, the freeway’s efficiency drops severely because of traffic jams and accidents. The optimum carrying capacity is a tipping point where it may take only a small number of extra vehicles to trigger a drastic decrease in efficiency.
