Takt Time: How Ford Learned to Make WWII Bombers 24x Faster
process.st
process.st
It mostly covers Takt time, with only a few paragraphs about its application at Ford's Willow Run facility.
Even then, it was mostly a description of the breakdown of some of the operations.
Some questions which I left with, unanswered, were:
1) how did Ford/Sorensen learn about Takt time? What method was used previously?
The given citation to http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_liberator_produ... says "Ford attempted to apply automotive mass production methods to the production of heavy bombers. However this was a complex process and early progress was very slow." so was Takt time already in place in Ford automotive plants?
2) what problems did they have putting it into place?
That is, if it took years to get right, then it can't be simply a matter of breaking things down into time blocks, with a buffer factor, and letting it go.
3) If the method comes from Germany, and "By monitoring and setting guidelines for this single figure, Ford (and company) was able to build a facility which could produce the same as half of the entire German aircraft industry.", then why wasn't Germany using Takt time for the same production improvements?