Walk into any mature lean facility and you'll find a document — sometimes a spreadsheet, sometimes a database — that nobody talks about in lean training courses but that operations managers quietly treat as one of the most important documents on site. It's called the Plan For Every Part, or PFEP.
If you've never come across it, this guide is the version you wish you'd had when you first heard the term.
What PFEP stands for — and what it actually is
PFEP stands for Plan For Every Part. It's a master reference document that contains the logistical, physical, and supply chain data for every single part number used in your facility.
Think of PFEP as the single source of truth for how every component moves through your building — from supplier to point of use.
It was developed as part of the Toyota Production System and popularised in the lean world by Harris, Rother, and Wilson's book Making Materials Flow. But you don't need to have read it to build one — and you don't need a Toyota-scale operation to benefit from it.
What goes in a PFEP?
At its core, a PFEP is a table — one row per part number, with columns covering everything you need to know to design and manage lean material flow. Here's a simplified example:
| Field | Example | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Part number | PN-4421-B | Unique identifier — one row per part |
| Part description | M8 hex bolt, zinc | Human-readable reference |
| Point of use | Station 3, line A | Where the part is consumed |
| Daily usage | 240 units/day | Drives supermarket and batch sizing |
| Container type | Blue KLT 4322 | Determines rack space and kanban sizing |
| Container quantity | 50 per container | Pack quantity from supplier or internal |
| Supplier | FastenerCo Ltd | Links to replenishment lead time |
| Supplier lead time | 3 days | Drives safety stock and kanban calculation |
| Storage location | Supermarket bay 7B | Tells tugger/water spider where to pick |
| Replenishment method | 2-bin kanban | Pull vs. push, signal type |
| Part dimensions / weight | 12×8×6 cm, 0.4 kg | Ergonomics, rack design, transport |
A real PFEP will often have 20–30 columns. The ones above cover the essentials you need to get started.
Why does it matter?
Without a PFEP, material flow decisions get made informally — based on habit, gut feel, or whoever shouted loudest in the last meeting. Parts end up stored in the wrong place, in the wrong container, with the wrong replenishment signal. The result is stockouts, overstocks, and operators spending time walking to find parts instead of building product.
With a PFEP, every material flow decision has a data foundation:
- Supermarket design — you know exactly how much space each part needs because you know the container size and daily usage
- Kanban sizing — the number of kanban cards is calculated directly from PFEP data (daily usage × lead time ÷ container quantity)
- Tugger route design — you know which parts go to which stations, so you can design efficient delivery loops
- EPEI calculation — daily usage from the PFEP feeds directly into your production scheduling intervals
- Line side storage — you know the dimensions and consumption rate of every part, so you can design the right rack at the right station
How to build one (without it taking months)
The most common mistake is trying to build a perfect PFEP before using it. Start with the parts that cause the most pain — stockouts, excessive walking, overflowing line-side storage — and add the rest over time.
Step 1 — Start with your bill of materials
Export your BOM from your ERP. This gives you the part number and description columns for free. You're not starting from scratch.
Step 2 — Add consumption data
Daily usage can usually be pulled from your ERP or calculated from your production schedule and takt time. If you produce 300 units/day and each unit uses 4 of a particular fastener, daily usage is 1,200.
Step 3 — Walk the floor and add physical data
Container type, dimensions, storage location, and point of use can't be pulled from a system — you have to go and look. This is called a "current state" PFEP walk. Take a laptop or tablet and fill in the columns as you go. It's tedious the first time. It pays off every time after.
Step 4 — Add supplier data
Lead time and supplier name come from your purchasing system or direct supplier contact. Lead time is one of the most important fields — it drives your safety stock and kanban calculations. Understanding how lead time, WIP, and throughput interact is where Little's Law becomes useful: reduce WIP and lead time falls proportionally, even without changing your process cycle times.
Step 5 — Calculate kanban quantities
Once you have daily usage, lead time, and container quantity, you can calculate the number of kanban cards for each part:
PFEP and your production scheduling
The PFEP doesn't just inform material flow — it connects directly to how you schedule production. The daily usage figures for each part feed into your EPEI calculation, which tells you the minimum interval at which you can produce every part at least once given your available capacity and changeover times.
A short EPEI means you replenish your supermarket frequently — which means you can hold less stock. A long EPEI means infrequent production runs and larger buffers. The PFEP gives you the consumption data you need to make that calculation meaningful rather than theoretical.
And once you know how frequently each part needs to be produced, the hour-by-hour production tracker helps you stay on schedule during the shift — logging actual output against your planned target each hour so you know immediately when you're falling behind on a particular part run.
Calculate your EPEI from PFEP data
Enter your daily usage, cycle time, and changeover times to find the optimal production interval for each part number.
Common mistakes
Building it and never updating it
A PFEP is only useful if it reflects reality. When a part number changes, a supplier changes, or a production rate changes, the PFEP must be updated. Assign someone ownership — usually the materials or logistics engineer — and set a review cadence. Quarterly is minimum; monthly is better in a high-change environment.
Making it too complicated to start
You don't need all 30 columns on day one. A PFEP with 8 columns that people actually use beats a 30-column masterpiece that nobody trusts. Start lean — the irony is intentional.
Keeping it in someone's head
The whole point of a PFEP is that it externalises knowledge that currently lives with two or three experienced people. If the person who knows where everything is stored goes on holiday, production shouldn't suffer. The PFEP is the answer to that problem.
The PFEP is one of those lean tools that doesn't get the stage time it deserves. It's not visual enough to put on a training poster and it's not simple enough to explain in a five-minute standup. But in a functioning lean system, it's the foundation that everything else stands on — supermarkets, kanbans, tugger routes, scheduling intervals. Build it once, maintain it properly, and it pays dividends for years.