# Heijunka

Operations · `Heijunka` · verification: source checked

Heijunka is the leveling of production type and quantity over a fixed period. It aims to meet customer demand while avoiding batching and reducing inventories, capital costs, manpower, and production lead time across the value stream. Quantity leveling can use a small finished-goods buffer to smooth daily demand, and type leveling uses repeating product sequences adjusted to customer orders.

## Specification

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Kind | methodology |

## Safety

- Unevenness in work creates strain, which corrodes safety and morale.

## Study notes

- Heijunka means roughly “levelization” in Japanese.
- Quantity leveling example: weekly orders of 500 items with daily demand of 200, 100, 50, 100 and 50 can be leveled to 100 units per day with a small finished-goods buffer.
- Type leveling example: weekly demand of five A, three B, two C and two D shirts can be sequenced A A B C D A A B C D A B instead of A A A A A B B B C C D D.
- Heijunka differs from batch-and-queue scheduling, which uses long runs and avoids changeovers.
- Batch production expands lead time, increases WIP inventories, hides defects, and creates uneven work.
- An ABC Production Analysis is proposed to decide the production scheduling method when moving from batch-and-queue to heijunka.
- Synonyms listed: Level Production; Production Smoothing.
- The type-leveling sequence is adjusted periodically according to changing customer orders.

## Sources

1. [Heijunka — A Resource Guide | Lean Enterprise Institute](https://www.lean.org/lexicon-terms/heijunka/) (accessed 2026-10-25)

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