Pull Principle

What is Pull Principle?

Pull principle is a production system where a manufacturing company has explicit limit on the amount of work in process (WIP) that can be in the system. In essence, there is a limit to the WIP. The pull principle differs from the push principle (explicitly has no limits to the amount of work in process that can be in the system).

In the pull principle, retailers and manufacturers work together. In concrete terms, retailers provide manufacturers with information on inventory and sales figures, on the basis of which manufacturers then ensure the supply of goods.

Repeat orders are placed based on actual demand, which means that goods are produced at short notice. Efficient logistics, fast information flows and functioning information transfer are indispensable for this, because only when they work together can they guarantee the high flexibility of production.

Only a comparatively small warehouse is required to implement the pull principle - this principle therefore also optimises the warehouse size of the respective company.