When new work is pulled into the system based on available capacity to handle it; where the people doing the work have autonomy to start it when they have time.
— Making Work Visible, Second Edition, Dominica Degrandis
Pull System
3 of our books and 1 talk define this term — and their definitions are worth reading side by side.
Toyota created a “pull system”: the factory didn’t begin manufacturing another car until the dealership had sold the first one.
— Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge, in “Chapter 12: Made in Japan”, John Willis with Derek Lewis
The pull system is the result of a harmony between the signal of need and fulfillment of that need by an upstream node
— Wiring for Flow, in the text
That's called a pull system, or one queue for multiple servers.
— Julia Wester · Predictability: No Magic Required, San Francisco 2016 · at 10:26
See also System · Kanban · WIP Limit · A3 · Andon cord · Capacity Utilization
Filed under Flow & Lean