{"id":21240,"date":"2018-10-11T14:31:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T19:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/end-manufacturing-line-analogy\/"},"modified":"2018-10-11T14:31:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T19:31:00","slug":"end-manufacturing-line-analogy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/end-manufacturing-line-analogy\/","title":{"rendered":"Project to Product: Lean manufacturing and the end of the manufacturing line analogy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Project<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

I recently visited the BMW Group’s Leipzig plant. My goal was to brainstorm with BMW Group IT leaders on how we could seamlessly integrate production lines with the software lifecycle. I was also interested in learning more about how BMW approaches car production as I was in the midst of defining the Flow Framework™<\/a> for my upcoming book, <\/span>Project to Product<\/span><\/i><\/a>. The visit involved a 10-km walk along the plant’s production lines, with plant leadership explaining each system, process, and tool involved in car production. That visit impacted my understanding of lean manufacturing<\/a> more profoundly than all the books I’ve read on lean processes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The plant is an incredible facility that leads the industry in technology and sustainability, producing a BMW 1 or 2 Series car every 70 seconds. It also houses the amazingly innovative i3 and i8 production lines. Walking into the Central Building (see Figure 1) combines the sense of watching a starship construction facility with the feel of a large tech startup. Open offices sit below an exposed part of the production line that moves cars from the body shop to the bottleneck of the plant and then to the assembly building.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Central
FIGURE 1: The Central Hub Building of the BMW Group’s Leipzig plant. The plant produces a BMW 1 or 2 Series car every 70 seconds. (Source: The BMW Group; used with permission.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I asked the plant leadership hundreds of questions, my mind raced trying to draw parallels between how cars and software are built. The combination of robots and humans working in unison was a glimpse into the future of how human skill will be combined with AI and automation. But what impressed me the most was the plant’s architecture, which demonstrates an elegance and modularity any software architect would envy.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Figure 2, the assembly line’s key stages are visible as the “knuckles” of the five “fingers” growing out to the right. Each finger is a key fixed point in the production line’s architecture, with the buildings growing outward as lean manufacturing steps are added and as technologies and customer demands evolve. I had never imagined that the principles I associate with software architecture could take such a physical, monumental form.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo
FIGURE 2: A drone photo of the BMW Group’s Leipzig plant. The manufacturing line’s key stages are visible as the “knuckles” of the five “fingers” growing up from and to the left of the middle of the plant. (Source: The BMW Group; used with permission.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I spent the months after my visit thinking about how to apply the plant’s manufacturing innovations to rethinking how software is built. How do we emulate the visibility that the rework area provided? How do we align our software architectures with the value stream the way the Leipzig plant has done, from the building’s structure to the placement of each stage and tool? How do we blend automation and human work this seamlessly? And, most importantly, how do we make the key bottleneck of a software process as visible to our staff as the plant has done?<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I had a lengthy talk with Nicole Bryan, Tasktop’s Vice President of Product Development, who convinced me that I was thinking about this all wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Table of Contents<\/p>\nToggle<\/span><\/path><\/svg><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n