Manufacturing: Push vs Pull?

This is a fundamental question for manufacturing: Push vs Pull? This is a good basic video explaining the two methods. Push is building product and storing it so you are ready to push it to the customer when they are ready. Pull is building (includes ordering parts) only when the customer orders it. Pull manufacturing can be much more efficient but a company also has to be much more disciplined. There are pros and cons for each. Another way to look at this is push is batch manufacturing and pull is single piece flow. Push is make to stock and pull is make to order. Lots of ways to say the same thing. Instead of duplicating work already done on the Internet here is a good article showing the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Lean and Manufacturing Quotes

“Costs do not exist to be calculated. Costs exist to be reduced.” ~Taiichi Ohno, father of the Toyota Production System
“If we reduce batch sizes by half, we also reduce by half the time it will take to process a batch. That means we reduce queue and wait by half as well. Reduce those by half, and we reduce by about half the total time parts spend in the plant. Reduce the time parts spend in the plant and our total lead time condenses. And with faster turn-around on orders, customers get their orders faster.” ~Eliyahu M. Goldratt, author of The Goal
“Finished goods are products that we have made that no one wants.” “Raw materials are products that we have bought that we don’t need.” ~Tom Greenwood
“Quick and Crude is better than Slow and Elegant” ~John R. Black
“You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures.” ~Charles C. Noble
“He who rejects change is the architect of decay”. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. ~Harold Wilson
“We do not suggest that you throw your MRP systems away. MRP should be used for purposes of planning and pull mechanisms should be used as much as possible for purposes of execution.” ~Kenneth E. Kirby
“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.” ~H. James Harrington
“We will win and you will lose. You cannot do anything because your failure is an internal disease. Your companies are based on Taylor’s principles. Worse, your heads are Taylorized too. You firmly believe that sound management means executives on the one side and workers on the other, on the one side men who think and on the other side men who only work.” ~Konusuke Matsushita