Plexus has a long history with Lean Manufacturing. In fact, the company Plexus Systems LLC grew out of, MSP Industries Corporation, helped pioneer lean manufacturing principles in the automotive industry. The entire facility was based on the Toyota Production System and other lean concepts, including 100% Kanban Scheduling, Pull Systems, Heijunka Scheduling / Load Leveling, Lean Office Principles, Kaizen, Team Management, and more. Lean was the birthplace of Plexus.
Plexus Systems owns the registered trademark for Scanban™ -the concept of a bar coded Kanban Card that is tracked electronically through the shop. As the Kanban Card travels around the shop floor, it drives scheduling, shop floor communication, inventory control, material traceability, and production tracking.
Today, Plexus offers a variety of options for lean manufacturing. We offer Scanban™, which uses physical barcoded Kanban Cards. We also offer the more popular Electronic Kanban System, which is easier to manage and implement, and can be used in hybrid combination with more traditional scheduling methodologies. Each part and operation can be setup to use the type of scheduling that makes the most sense for the situation. We also offer other lean scheduling tools, such as our Electronic Pull Scheduler and the Online Customer Replenishment System.
Plexus Online is a powerful and flexible platform for implementing lean practices within your organization. No two manufacturing plants are identical. When it comes to lean, a cookie cutter approach will not work. Plexus provides the experience and flexibility to tailor a lean system that will transform your organization.
Many of Plexus Online's shop floor modules are designed around lean principles, including the Manufacturing Execution System, Inventory Control, and others. However, lean goes beyond the shop floor. A truly lean organization adapts the lean concepts into all areas of the company, applying Lean Office principles. Lean principles are infused into all aspects of Plexus Online's design, throughout nearly all its modules, from shop floor to top floor.
As long time supporters of lean principles, Plexus establishes strong relationships with companies that wish to implement lean practices in their organization, and we seek to constantly improve our lean capabilities over time.
Kanban Scheduling The Kanban system can be used to augment or replace conventional scheduling. Based on the Toyota Production System, this methodology is especially useful for optimizing the production flow of a small number of high-volume, repetitive parts.
Pull Scheduler This module is used to analyze inventory levels, Minimum Restock Levels, Daily Pulls, and Lead Times in order to recommend and create production jobs and maintain required stock levels. Often used as an electronic pull system.
