A car plant is typically organized by value adding areas, like body-in-white, paint and assembly and the plant management consists of a heavy weight BIW-manger, paint shop manager and assembly boss. The combining element between them is logistics. While logistics is very much occupied with delivering parts and components to the line, the control of body flow is often undervalued. Not only represent bodies an enormous value as work in progress (WIP), the missing of the right body at the right time in a process could result in enormous inefficiencies. Imagine an assembly shop where hundreds of workers are standing around reading newspapers and chat with each other, because there is a jam in the paint buffer. Although body flow is such an important element within the value chain, it is often organizationally not appropriately mapped. And it provides another area for optimization with a huge potential!

Body flow is in the responsibility of everybody and nobody

Body flow issues often are the cause of severe inefficiencies in single manufacturing areas. Typically flow issues are used as the major excuse for not achieving volume targets

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