Comments on: Push manufacturing; subverting the fit feedback loop

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:57:24 +0000

The main problem with pull manufacturing from my perspective is that one needs a sales person… However, with push manufacturing, I can always sell through the internet, or try to at least

The rules as we know them are changing all of the time. Fit Couture doesn’t have a sales person and they sell consumer direct on the web -cut to order.

By: Sabine

Sabine — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:12:10 +0000

I guess under the circumstances my business is a push operation. Seeing as I did not produce thousands of pieces, that should be fine. To be honest, I would much rather get the orders and THEN manufacture, but so far it does not seem to work that way for the most part. Occasionally i do get an order for non-stock, from a store who wants specific measurements and I am happy to oblige them.
The main problem with pull manufacturing from my perspective is that one needs a sales person. Reading through here it seems that I am not the only one having a tough time finding an independent sales rep who will actually bring some sales (the last and so far only one got me 1 sale for less product then i sent her samples…) However, with push manufacturing, I can always sell through the internet, or try to at least

By: Yet more marketing hype

Yet more marketing hype — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 19:14:18 +0000

I found a book review of Why Customers Do What They Do published in Tuesday’s WWD (subscription required). Purportedly, the book “reveals secrets of consumer buying”. While I haven’t read the book, one would hope that the author considered an…

By: Karen Wilhelm

Karen Wilhelm — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 20:05:37 +0000

Push – pull. Picture a piece of cooked spaghetti. You want it to go through a factory just like a typical product would.

A traditional production planning system (probably called MRP or something similar) will determine what is to be produced and start pushing the batch through the system. It will tell you what to produce based on a forecast decided many weeks before. Starting with materials and parts and eventually getting to the shipping dock. If you try to push spaghetti, it’s not real easy. If you run short of a part, or if a rush order needs to be expedited, pretty soon there’s a real mess.

Pull production starts with the customer’s actual order. Picture the customer standing at the shipping dock pulling the spaghetti. (OK – imagine it’s really strong spaghetti.) The dock pulls the order from packing, packing pulls the order from assembly, assembly pulls the order from processing (cutting, straightening, subassembly, pressing), processing pulls the order from receiving, receiving pulls parts from the order’s bill of materials from suppliers.

Of course, you don’t get to that ideal without a lot of work at every stage, but you are trying to get the pull on the spaghetting level and smooth.

Does that make any sense? By the way – the origin is Toyota, although the name might have come from Womack and Jones in the “Machine that Changed the World.” They saddled us with the horrible term “lean” which is so confused with layoffs that its scary. Lean just means you don’t have a lot of bloat and waste in your system. True lean is based on incredible respect for people. It’s possible to do it without getting rid of people.

By: claudia

claudia — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 13:44:15 +0000

it’s interesting to read about this push-pull concept. what’s more interesting is that i’m working at a company which seems to be doing a mixture of both concepts- we’re new- so here’s to hoping we can get the right balance!

By: Alternatives in women's sizing

Alternatives in women's sizing — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 20:10:30 +0000

In my continuing series discussing fit and apparel sizing see #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6; I’ve failed to explain how sizing determinations are made, how standards are drawn followed by industry application. In this post I’ll explain how survey…

By: The myth of vanity sizing

The myth of vanity sizing — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 16:58:44 +0000

I’ve been avoiding the topic of fit and sizing -which aren’t the same thing- for a very long time. I haven’t written about it because a truly comprehensive discussion is very controversial and guaranteed to piss off everyone from consumers…

By: Carol

Carol — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 18:46:45 +0000

What’s the origin of “push-pull” as the name for this concept? Is it from the Machine That Changed the World folks? I am paying attention but haven’t had time to get through, much less absorb all the incredible stuff you figure out, talk about and connect to.

Anyway, I’m using “push-pull” in many, many conversations as it explains so much, so clearly.

Stick in a photo of a sewing hammer, please?

I’m having an exhilarating time with the vintage pattern design/implementation.

By: Susan McElroy

Susan McElroy — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 16:02:19 +0000

YesYesYesYesYes!! Today is an incredibly busy day or I would post all morning on how this is so on target…

I can’t believe you are letting us have access to this blog for free…to hear this from an industry insider is priceless.