Demand-driven Planning in Manufacturing
P.J. Jakovljevic - August 9, 2005

Push versus Pull

In traditional manufacturing, the time and cost of changeover to produce different products is high, as are the costs of inventory, planning, and expediting. Thus, goods are pushed through production at levels determined by often inaccurate scheduling and forecasting tools common in material resource planning (MRP II) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. These levels often exceed demand, resulting in building excess finished inventory, while in a flow/lean/just in time (JIT) environment, orders are conversely "pulled" through the process, based on actual demand...