Product Families for High-Mix, Low-Volume Manufacturing

Stop Managing Chaos. Start Organizing It. If you run a high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) manufacturing operation, you know the struggle: hundreds of active part numbers, constant schedule changes, and operators spending more time on setups than making parts. Traditional lean manufacturing advice says "reduce variation" and build dedicated lines. But when customers pay you for variation, that advice breaks down. There is a better way. In Product Families for High-Mix, Low-Volume Manufacturing, manufacturing engineer Nick Arkesteyn presents a practical, field-tested approach to organizing product variety without killing flexibility. This book shows you how to group products based on how they are made, not how they look—creating stability, flow, and clarity in even the most chaotic job shop environments. Inside this book, you'll learn how to: • Identify natural product families using process routing and changeover data • Stop grouping products by revenue and start grouping by flow • Handle custom jobs, one-offs, and "specials" without blowing up your schedule • Decide when products belong in the same family—and when they don't • Use a clear framework for bridge products, orphan products, and edge cases • Lay the foundation for SMED, flexible cells, and intelligent scheduling This is not a theoretical textbook. It's a hands-on guide written for real manufacturing floors, real operators, and real constraints. This book is Volume 1 of the Lean Line Pro Deep Dive Series and serves as the foundation for organizing high-mix production before tackling changeover reduction, cell design, and scheduling. If your shop feels chaotic—but full of hidden patterns—this book will help you find them.