One Piece One Flow

The word one does not necessarily have a literal meaning.

One piece one flow. One piece flow is moving one workpiece at a time between a work station within a cell or shop. In contrast batch processing creates a large number of products or works on a large number of transactions at one time sending them together as a group through each operational step. This process involves visualizing all the unit operations of a process and identifying based on the definitions what wastes should be eliminated per unit area. To think of processing one unit at a time usually sends a shudder through the organisation which has batch manufacturing as its life blood.

One piece flow is a methodology that can be utilized to ensure that all of the aforementioned wastes are eliminated. This system works best in combination with a cellular layout in which all necessary equipment is located within a cell in the sequence in which it is used. One piece flow is a fundamental element of becoming lean. It should be related to the customers requirements and could be one unit of order.

In opposite conditions we might process an entire batch or lot at each station before moving it to the next station.