Line Shift

A line shift is a synchronized movement of all the production work on an assembly line. It can be done in several ways.

• Manually, in which each person pushes their work to the next station on a signal.
• On an indexed moving line, in which the line moves and then stops. The movement may be triggered manually, or automatically.
• On a continuously moving line, in which the movement of the work units never stops. Rather, the conveyor crawls along as a snail’s pace past the assembly workers.

In Lean companies, the shifting of the line is done at the pace of the takt time so that it matches customer demand. This requires a high degree of standardization and line balancing.