Library skill · Thinkers' principles
Ford-style flow and waste review
Follows one item through a process and checks it against Henry Ford's flow principles: bring the work to the person, arrange steps in sequence, fixed handoffs, paced by trial, minimal stock. Use it when work waits between people and people spend their time fetching, searching or carrying.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by Henry Ford or their companies. About these principles: Henry Ford's ideas, explained.
Works in Claude, ChatGPT, and coding agents. On Team and Business, this library skill in your pod updates itself when we improve it.
When to use it
- Work waits between people and people spend their time fetching, searching or carrying
- A workspace, tool layout or handoff needs redesigning
- Stock or a backlog keeps piling up between steps
What you give it
- One process as really done, arrival to exit
- Work and wait time per step, and how the item moves
- Trips, searches and carries with times
- Stock between steps and daily use
What you get
The item's path with work and wait time, the trips, searches and carries sized, layout and handoff changes that bring the work to the person, and one small trial.
How it works
- Follow one item Write each step from arrival to exit, in order: who, where, work time, wait before, and how the item moves to the next step. Add the total lead time and the total work time.
- Mark who moves (principle 1) For each step, does the work come to the person, or does the person go to the work (walk to fetch it, search for it, open another tool, chase someone)? List every trip and search with its time per item.
- Check the sequence and distance (principle 2) Are the steps arranged in the order the work is done? Count backtracks, crossings and handoffs. Note where people or tools sit far from the step that uses them, and where a space or tool holds more than the job needs.
- Check the handoff point (principle 3) Does each finished piece go to one fixed, obvious place the next person takes it from, or is it sent, dropped or announced differently each time? Count the steps and reaches (or clicks and window switches) to pick it up.
- Look at pace and waiting (principle 4) Where does the item wait, and where are people rushed? Propose a pace that gives each step the time it needs and removes idle waiting, using the user's numbers. Never solve a queue by telling people to work faster.
- Look at stock (principles 6 and 7) How much sits between steps compared with what the next step uses? What is ordered, prepared or written ahead of need? Name the amount above immediate need.
- Propose the changes For the biggest items from steps 2 to 6: one change to layout, sequence or handoff that removes the trip, search, carry or stock, with the expected effect from the user's numbers (or [estimate]).
- Pick one small trial (principle 5) One change on one part of the process for a set period, with the measure (lead time, walking or search time, stock) taken before and after. Keep the old way until the trial shows the new way is better.
The SKILL.md
The whole file, as your AI reads it. Download it
---
name: ford-style-flow-waste-review
description: Reviews how work moves through one process against the flow and waste principles Henry Ford described in My Life and Work (1922) - bring the work to the person instead of the person to the work, arrange steps in sequence so each item travels the least distance, hand work on at a fixed, convenient place, set the pace by trial so no one is hurried and no second is idle, try changes small first, and hold materials only for immediate needs. Measures walking, searching, carrying, handoffs and stock, then proposes changes to the layout and sequence and one small trial. Works for offices, clinics and shops as well as factories. Use when work keeps waiting between people, people spend their time fetching and searching, a workspace or tool layout needs redesigning, stock or a backlog keeps piling up, or someone asks for a flow review, a layout review or how to make work flow.
---
# Ford-style flow and waste review
These are principles Henry Ford described publicly in My Life and Work (1922, written with Samuel Crowther), a book now in the public domain in the United States, and as The Henry Ford museum describes his moving assembly line. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Henry Ford or their companies. The skill follows one item through a process, measures where it travels, waits and gets handled, and proposes how to bring the work to the people doing it.
## Ground rules
- Do not attribute quotes or opinions to Henry Ford beyond the cited sources.
- Do not role-play, imitate, or write in the voice of Henry Ford; review the user's material against the principles below.
- Use the user's own times, distances and counts. Mark estimates "[estimate]" and anything missing "[check: ...]". Never invent a number.
- The goal is less walking, searching, carrying and waiting for the work, not a faster pace for people. Principle 4 says no one should be hurried; never propose speeding people up as the change.
- The book describes car plants in the 1910s; applying it to offices and services is our adaptation, and the output says so.
- Say when a principle doesn't fit (a one-person job with no handoffs has no line to arrange).
## The principles
1. **Bring the work to the person.** The first step forward in Ford's assembly came from taking the work to the workers instead of the workers to the work. Before that, a car was built at one spot and people brought parts to it; the book says an undirected worker spent more time walking for materials and tools than working. Source: My Life and Work, Chapter V, "Getting into Production".
2. **Arrange in the sequence of the work.** Place the tools and the people in the order of the operations so each part travels the least possible distance while being finished. Machines were placed in sequence and given the room each job needs and no more. Source: Chapter V; Chapter VII, "The Terror of the Machine".
3. **Hand on at one fixed, convenient place.** When a worker finishes an operation, the part goes to the same place every time, the place most convenient to the hand, using work slides or another carrier where possible, and if possible gravity carries the part to the next worker. Ford set two general rules: no one should have to take more than one step if it can be avoided, and no one should need to stoop. Source: Chapter V.
4. **Set the pace by trial: every second needed, none unnecessary.** The speed of the moving line was tried and adjusted (too fast, then too slow, then settled). The stated idea is that a worker must not be hurried, and must have every second necessary but not a single unnecessary second. Source: Chapter V.
5. **Try it small first.** The first moving line was tried on one subassembly, the flywheel magneto, in 1913, before the chassis and then the whole car. The book says the company tries everything in a little way first and makes no drastic change until it knows the new way is better. Source: Chapter V; The Henry Ford, "Henry Ford: Assembly Line".
6. **Hold materials for immediate needs only.** Buy only enough to fit the production plan; with an even, assured flow of materials no stock would be needed, and money tied up in materials falls. Source: Chapter X, "How Cheaply Can Things Be Made?".
7. **A minimum of waste, of materials and of human effort.** Ford describes striving to manufacture with a minimum of waste of both, and says waste comes largely from not understanding what one does or doing it carelessly. The same aim, saving steps, was applied to the layout of the hospital he describes. Source: Introduction, "What Is the Idea?"; Chapter XV, "Why Charity?".
8. **Flow of materials, subdivided work, interchangeable parts.** The Henry Ford museum describes the moving assembly line of 1913 as combining interchangeable parts, subdivided labour and the fluid movement of materials. It also records that workers disliked the new methods, with labour turnover very high by late 1913. Source: The Henry Ford, "Henry Ford: Assembly Line" and K-12 Research Guide, "Assembly Line".
## When to use
- Work that waits in queues between people or teams: intake to fulfilment, ticket to fix, order to dispatch, patient check-in to consultation.
- People spending their day fetching, searching, carrying files or walking between rooms and tools.
- Redesigning a desk, a room, a shared drive, a ticket board or a shop floor.
- Stock, a backlog or work in progress that keeps growing.
- Not for sorting every type of waste in a process (use ohno-style-seven-wastes, which applies Taiichi Ohno's seven categories; the two work well together: this skill looks at flow and layout, that one names the waste type), and not for a root cause of one failure (use ohno-style-five-whys).
## What you need
- One process, from the item arriving to the item leaving, as it is really done.
- For each step: who does it, where, how long the work takes, how long the item waits before it, and how the item gets there (carried, emailed, re-keyed, fetched).
- Where people walk or click to get what they need: tools, files, approvals, information. Times or counts if known.
- How much stock, backlog or work in progress sits between steps, and how much the next step uses per day.
- Any limits: rooms that can't move, systems that can't change, rules.
## Steps
1. **Follow one item.** Write each step from arrival to exit, in order: who, where, work time, wait before, and how the item moves to the next step. Add the total lead time and the total work time.
2. **Mark who moves (principle 1).** For each step, does the work come to the person, or does the person go to the work (walk to fetch it, search for it, open another tool, chase someone)? List every trip and search with its time per item.
3. **Check the sequence and distance (principle 2).** Are the steps arranged in the order the work is done? Count backtracks, crossings and handoffs. Note where people or tools sit far from the step that uses them, and where a space or tool holds more than the job needs.
4. **Check the handoff point (principle 3).** Does each finished piece go to one fixed, obvious place the next person takes it from, or is it sent, dropped or announced differently each time? Count the steps and reaches (or clicks and window switches) to pick it up.
5. **Look at pace and waiting (principle 4).** Where does the item wait, and where are people rushed? Propose a pace that gives each step the time it needs and removes idle waiting, using the user's numbers. Never solve a queue by telling people to work faster.
6. **Look at stock (principles 6 and 7).** How much sits between steps compared with what the next step uses? What is ordered, prepared or written ahead of need? Name the amount above immediate need.
7. **Propose the changes.** For the biggest items from steps 2 to 6: one change to layout, sequence or handoff that removes the trip, search, carry or stock, with the expected effect from the user's numbers (or [estimate]).
8. **Pick one small trial (principle 5).** One change on one part of the process for a set period, with the measure (lead time, walking or search time, stock) taken before and after. Keep the old way until the trial shows the new way is better.
## Output format
```markdown
# Flow and waste review: [process]
These are principles Henry Ford described publicly in My Life and Work (1922). Not affiliated with or endorsed by Henry Ford or their companies. Applying them outside a factory is our adaptation.
## Summary
Lead time [x], work time [y]. Biggest flow loss: [trip / search / handoff / stock, where]. First trial: [change].
## The item's path
| # | Step | Who | Where | Work time | Wait before | How it reaches the next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
## Trips, searches and carries
| Step | Who goes where, or searches for what | Time per item | Items per week | Principle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
## Sequence and handoffs
[Backtracks, crossings, far-away tools, handoff points that move]
## Pace and stock
| Between steps | Waiting / rushed | Stock or backlog | Next step uses per day | Above immediate need |
|---|---|---|---|---|
## Changes
| Change | What it removes | Expected effect | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
## First trial
[One change, where, for how long, the measure before and after]
## Principles used
[Numbered, with chapter or page]
```
## Example
**Input:** "A small dental clinic. A patient checks in at reception (2 min), waits (about 15 min), a nurse walks them to a room, then goes back to the office to print the chart and fetch the X-rays from the other room (about 6 min). The dentist comes in, finds the tray is missing two instruments and the nurse goes to sterilisation to get them (3 min, about 1 in 3 visits). After treatment, the nurse writes notes on paper and takes them to reception, where the receptionist types them in (5 min). We keep a cupboard of supplies ordered every two months 'to be safe'. About 30 patients a day."
**Output (excerpt):**
```markdown
These are principles Henry Ford described publicly in My Life and Work (1922). Not affiliated with or endorsed by Henry Ford or their companies. Applying them outside a factory is our adaptation.
## Summary
Lead time per patient about [check: total minutes]; the biggest flow loss is the nurse fetching the chart and X-rays, about 6 min on each of about 30 patients a day, or roughly 3 hours of nurse time daily. First trial: prepare chart, X-rays and a checked tray at the room before the patient is called, for one week, in one treatment room.
## Trips, searches and carries
| Step | Who goes where, or searches for what | Time per item | Items per week | Principle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before treatment | Nurse walks to office and X-ray room | 6 min | about 150 [estimate: 30 a day x 5 days] | 1 Bring the work to the person |
| During treatment | Nurse fetches missing instruments | 3 min | about 50 (1 in 3 visits) | 3 Fixed, convenient place |
| After treatment | Paper notes carried to reception and re-typed | 5 min | about 150 | 2 Sequence, 7 Waste of effort |
## Changes
| Change | What it removes | Expected effect | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chart and X-rays open on the room screen before the patient is called | Nurse's trip to office and X-ray room | About 6 min per patient | Practice manager |
| Tray checked against a list at sterilisation and set at the same spot in each room | Mid-treatment fetches | About 3 min on 1 in 3 visits | Lead nurse |
| Notes typed in the room during treatment wrap-up | Carrying and re-typing | About 5 min per patient | Nurse, receptionist |
| Order supplies from weekly use, not two months ahead | Cash and space held above immediate need | [check: cupboard value] | Office manager |
```
## Checks
- [ ] The attribution and not-affiliated lines are in the output, and the adaptation is named.
- [ ] One item was followed from arrival to exit, with wait time as well as work time.
- [ ] Every trip, search and carry is listed with its size, from the input or marked [estimate] or [check].
- [ ] Each change brings the work, tool or information to the person or removes a carry or stock; none asks people to go faster.
- [ ] Stock is compared with what the next step uses.
- [ ] One small trial with a before-and-after measure; the old way stays until the trial shows the new one is better.
- [ ] Quotes from the book, if any, are short, exact and name the chapter.
## Common mistakes
- Treating the moving line as "make people work faster". The sources tie the pace to trial and to giving each step the time it needs.
- Moving the furniture before following an item; the layout should follow the sequence of the work.
- Building a large stock "to be safe" when the real problem is an uneven supply.
- Changing the whole process at once instead of one part first.
- Ignoring the people: the museum notes how much workers disliked the early line. Ask the people doing the work before changing it.
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Changelog
- v1.0.1 · · Example output now opens with the attribution and not-affiliated lines, as the skill's own checks require.
- v1.0.0 · · First release.
Sources
- My Life and Work, Henry Ford with Samuel Crowther (1922) - Project Gutenberg eBook #7213 (read 2026-11-04)
- Henry Ford: Assembly Line - The Henry Ford (read 2026-11-04)
- K-12 Research Guide: Assembly Line - The Henry Ford (read 2026-11-04)