Which term describes the practice of making a production line adaptable to different products with minimal changeover?

Which term describes the practice of making a production line adaptable to different products with minimal changeover?

• A. Single-piece flow
• B. Cell manufacturing
• C. Quick changeover SMED
• D. Poka-yoke

Answer: (C)

Reducing changeover time to switch between products is the idea here. The term that fits is SMED, which stands for Single-Minute Exchange of Die, commonly described as a quick changeover. The goal is to shrink setup times so a line can switch products with minimal downtime, enabling smaller batch sizes and greater flexibility. SMED achieves this by separating tasks that can be done while the line is running (external) from those that must be done with the line stopped (internal), converting as many steps to external, and streamlining the remaining steps. This makes changeovers fast enough to be a routine part of production. The other concepts describe different improvements: one-piece-at-a-time flow focuses on reducing WIP and lead times through continuous flow; cell manufacturing reorganizes the layout into productive cells; Poka-yoke involves mistake-proofing to prevent defects.

Reducing changeover time to switch between products is the idea here. The term that fits is SMED, which stands for Single-Minute Exchange of Die, commonly described as a quick changeover. The goal is to shrink setup times so a line can switch products with minimal downtime, enabling smaller batch sizes and greater flexibility. SMED achieves this by separating tasks that can be done while the line is running (external) from those that must be done with the line stopped (internal), converting as many steps to external, and streamlining the remaining steps. This makes changeovers fast enough to be a routine part of production.

The other concepts describe different improvements: one-piece-at-a-time flow focuses on reducing WIP and lead times through continuous flow; cell manufacturing reorganizes the layout into productive cells; Poka-yoke involves mistake-proofing to prevent defects.