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Book summary · Flow and value stream mapping · Intermediate

Making Materials Flow: summary and review

A Lean Material-Handling Guide for Operations, Production-Control, and Engineering Professionals

By Rick Harris, Chris Harris and Earl Wilson. First published 2003.

The short answer

This workbook shows how to get purchased parts to continuous-flow cells without hoarding, searching or line stoppages. It gives a four-step system: build a plan for every part, consolidate parts in one market, run timed delivery routes with standard work, and tie replenishment to consumption with pull signals, then audit daily. It is a how-to for production control, logistics and engineering, aimed at plants that already have a value stream map and flow cells, and it does not cover how to build the cells.

Read it if

  • Your cells are built but operators still leave to find parts, or supervisors hoard stock around the line.
  • You are the logistics, materials or production-control lead asked to supply a lean line, and you want exercises and formulas, not philosophy.
  • You are designing a mizusumashi route or a supermarket and need a data model (what to record per part) before you lay out shelves.

Skip it if

  • You have not mapped the value stream or set up flow cells. The publisher says it assumes basic knowledge of value-stream mapping, cell design and standard work.
  • Your main problem is in-process WIP or finished goods control. The core system is for purchased parts, so look at a production-control workbook instead.

When it pays off: After your first flow cell is running and the weak point has moved from the process to supply.

The core ideas, in plain language

  1. 1

    A plan for every part

    Start with a database of each purchased part: usage rate, storage and point-of-use locations, shipment size, supplier, box and part dimensions, weight and transport. LEI's article quotes Rick Harris calling it the plant's DNA. Keep width, height and length in separate fields so you can sort by each.

  2. 2

    One purchased-parts market near receiving

    A market is a single, controlled store of purchased parts that replaces stock scattered along the line. In a Delphi Delco Kokomo case reported by LEI, four separate stores were consolidated into one near receiving. The maximum level for each part comes from usage, shipment size and a buffer.

  3. 3

    Timed delivery routes with standard work

    A fixed route, run on a timer, specifies stops, sequence, time at each stop and what to do when something goes wrong. This is the logic of a water spider (mizusumashi), though we could not confirm the book uses that word.

  4. 4

    Pull signals connect material to consumption

    In the Delphi Delco case, kanban cards made sure the market and route replenish only parts the cells consumed. The signal is what stops pushing stock to the line because it is available.

  5. 5

    Audit the system every day in writing

    The LEI case says daily written audits of the market, routes and signals kept the system alive, and that without them the standards are treated as optional.

How to use it on Monday morning

  1. 1

    Build the plan for one cell's parts

    Pick one cell. List each purchased part it uses, then fill usage per hour or day, pick location, shipment size, supplier, container dimensions and weight. Verify against the shelf, not only the ERP.

  2. 2

    Follow the current feeding for one full cycle

    Walk with whoever supplies the cell, with a stopwatch. Record each stop, the minutes, what is delivered, what is collected and any time spent searching. This is your baseline for a route.

  3. 3

    Size a market for the ten busiest parts

    Calculate a maximum level for each from usage, shipment size and buffer, then compare with what is on the floor today. Use the kanban sizing calculator for the card counts.

  4. 4

    Start a one-page daily audit

    A leader walks the market, the route and the signals and initials a short checklist. Log each shortage with its cause in the shortage log so you can see which parts break the system.

What to be careful about

  • The scope is purchased parts

    The publisher lists adaptations for WIP markets and low-volume, high-mix work, but the core system is built around purchased parts for continuous-flow cells. It also assumes the cells and standard work exist.

  • It reads as prescriptive in some plants

    One Goodreads reviewer cautioned that the detailed time-motion studies may feel overly prescriptive, especially in low-volume, high-mix plants. Test the formulas against your own mix.

  • Results come from case reports and the authors' own work

    The ~50% inventory reduction and the Delphi Delco numbers appear in LEI posts, not in independent studies. Rick Harris is president of Harris Lean Systems (per LEI), so he has a commercial interest. The book dates from 2003 and its signals are cards, so check how your ERP and barcodes fit.

Making Materials Flow compared with Creating Level Pull

Choose Making Materials Flow when your problem is supplying purchased parts to the line. Choose Creating Level Pull (Art Smalley) when your problem is controlling production, including leveling and finished-goods pull.

Read the summary of Creating Level Pull.

Tools and templates on LeanSuite that go with it

Book details

Bibliographic details of Making Materials Flow
TitleMaking Materials Flow: A Lean Material-Handling Guide for Operations, Production-Control, and Engineering Professionals
AuthorRick Harris, Chris Harris and Earl Wilson
First published2003. Lean Enterprise Institute workbook, 2003 (Goodreads lists September 1, 2003). Spiral-bound, 93 pages. It won a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award, per the publisher.
Edition shownSpiral-bound workbook, 93 pages, Lean Enterprise Institute, 2003
ISBN-13978-0974182490
Pages93

Details checked against public records on 7 October 2026. Other editions have other ISBNs. We carry no affiliate links.

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