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The “Drum” refers to
the constraint or bottleneck. It is called a “drum”
as it beats the rhythm of the entire throughput channel
– the channel can produce no faster than the pace
of the Drum |
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If the Drum is to operate at its maximum, it must
never be allowed to stop due to a lack of inputs –
it can never be starved. To ensure this never occurs,
an inventory of work in process is created immediately
in front of the Drum. This inventory, specifically for
the Drum, is known as the “Buffer”
or Drum Buffer |
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The size of the Drum Buffer must be managed –
it cannot be too small, but at the same time, it would
be wasteful for it to be excessive. Once the optimal
size of the buffer has been determined, a mechanism
is put in place that releases the raw materials into
the system at the appropriate time, so that the Drum
Buffer is maintained at its pre-determined size and
the flow of work through the system is running at the
same pace as the Drum. This release mechanism is known
as the “Rope” |
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