Heijunka

Heijunka is a Toyota Production System technique that smooths production volume and product mix over time, replacing long runs of a single variant with short, interleaved runs that match demand — reducing inventory, lead time, and overburden.

In depth

Heijunka attacks two waste drivers at once: unevenness (mura) and overburden (muri). Instead of building a week of product A followed by a week of product B, a heijunka schedule interleaves small batches so the line output tracks demand. The technique depends on short changeovers (SMED), reliable quality (so no firefighting), and flexible operators (a trained skill matrix). Azumuta supports heijunka by standardizing changeovers in digital work instructions and keeping the skill matrix current so a scheduler can trust that the right people are on shift.

See also

• Continuous improvement
• 5S

Azumuta resources

• Heijunka definition, techniques, and example