CONstant Work in Process (CONWIP) are pull-oriented production control systems.

Such systems can

be classified as pull and push systems (Spearman et al. 1990
[1]
). In a push system, the production order
is scheduled and the material is pushed into the production line. In a pull system, the start of each product
assembly process is triggered by the completion of another at the end of production line. This pull-variant
is known for its ease of implementation.
CONWIP is a kind of single-stage kanban system and is also a hybrid push-pull system. While Kanban
systems maintain tighter control of system WIP through the individual cards at each workstation,
CONWIP systems are easier to implement and adjust, since only one set of system cards is used to
manage system WIP
[2]
[1]. CONWIP uses cards to control the number ofWIPs. For example, no part is
allowed to enter the system without a card (authority). After a finished part is completed at the
last workstation, a card is transferred to the first workstation and a new part is pushed into the sequential
process route. In their paper, Spearman et al. (1990) used a simulation to make a comparison among the
CONWIP, kanban and push systems, and found that CONWIP systems can achieve a lower WIP level
than kanban systems.
Card control policy in CONWIP system
In a CONWIP system, a card is shared by all kinds of products. However, Duenyas (1994) proposed a
dedicated card control policy in CONWIP and he stated that this policy could perform as a multiple chain
closed queuing network.
[edit]See also
Factory Physics
MRP
JIT
kanban
[edit]References
1. ^ Spearman, M., Woodruff, D. and Hopp, W. (1990) CONWIP: a pull alternative to kanban. International
Journal of Production Research 28, 879-894
2. ^ Marek, Richard P. et al., Understanding the fundamentals of Kanban and CONWIP pull systems using
simulation, Proceedings of the 2001 Winter Simulation Conference
[edit]Further reading
Spearman, Mark L. and Michael A Zazanis, "Push and Pull Production Systems: Issues and
Comparisons", Op. Res., Vol40(3), pp 521-532, May-June 1992.