Kaizen Song: Hold On ‘Til You See (the Downstream Pull)

Late last night after dropping a couple of friends off at the airport, “Hold On Loosely” by 38 Special came on the radio. It’s simple but lovely song that holds on loosely to a timeless truth. Those wild-eyed southern boys knew what they were talking about.
Inevitably as it happens when a folk or rock tune takes too many turns in my head, it turned into a kaizen song.
Hold on ‘Til You See (the Downstream Pull)

You see it all around you
Good planning gone bad
Materials short or late, then you
Rearrange all your plans
And my mind goes back to a man who they called Ohno,
Who told me,
“Hold on ’til you see, the downstream pull”
If you link MRP,
you’ll lose shop floor control
Your buffer needs lead time to replenish
And a supermarket to be in
Excuses are easy, with changeovers and such
To overproduce it, to make too much
And my mind goes back to a man who they called Ohno,
Who told me,
“Hold on ’til you see, the downstream pull”
If you link MRP,
you’ll lose shop floor control
Your buffer needs lead time to replenish
And a supermarket to be in
Don’t get so lost in play
With IT planning tools
Don’t let the walls get in your way
Go to gemba
You see it all around you
Good planning gone bad
Materials bad or late, then you
Rearrange all your plans
And my mind goes back to a man who they called Ohno,
Who told me,
“Hold on ’til you see, the downstream pull”
If you link MRP,
you’ll lose shop floor control
Your buffer needs lead time to replenish
And a supermarket to be in
So hold on ’til you see, the downstream pull
If you link MRP dates
You’re gonna push it
You’ll lose shop floor control
Yeah, yeah, yeah hold on ’til you see, the downstream pull
If you link MRP dates
You’ll lose shop floor control
Hold on ’til you see, the downstream pull
If you link MRP dates
You’ll lose shop floor control
Yeah, yeah, yeah

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