1999 Volume 8 Issue 2 Pages 43-60
This paper investigates a method for analyzing information flow and physical distribution flow among various related sections and organizations. Based on the idea of comparing ideal flow pattern and current flow pattern, the paper presents a concrete procedure for systematically identifying problems and improvement ideas.
The paper first proposes a tool named flow diagram, in order to visually represent flow pattern, whose vertical axis represents time and horizontal axis refers to sections and organizations relevant to information and physical flows. The flow diagram can be categorized into three types; "current level" that represents current flow pattern, "ideal level" that depicts extremely simplified pattern, and "target level" that is correspondent to practical goal of flow pattern improvement. The paper then discusses causes of gap between current level and ideal level, which are categorized into three such as "multi-stage" in which flow passes through multiple sections from start to the end, "inverse direction" in which flow goes backward between two sections, and "diversion-confluence" in which flow is once diverged and then confluenced later. These causes can be utilized as checkpoints for identifying problems.
The paper finally presents a procedure for listing problems and improvement ideas using the flow diagram and checkpoints, and an actual case of order fulfillment process of generic goods at an actual pharmaceutical company is analyzed by the proposed procedure and improvement ideas are listed and represented on a target level flow diagram.
