What is One Piece Flow?

One-piece flow, also known as single-piece flow or continuous flow manufacturing, is a lean manufacturing technique where products move through the production process one unit at a time, with each unit completing all stages before the next unit begins. This contrasts with batch processing, where multiple units are processed together at each stage. One-piece flow aims to reduce work-in-progress inventory, shorten lead times, improve quality, and increase flexibility by eliminating bottlenecks and waste.