Asynchronous Open Lines - Diagnostics
The practical worst case can be used as a benchmark for open lines in much the same way it is used for closed lines. Indeed, qualitative relationships between flow time, throughput, and WIP are much the same in open and closed lines, although as noted in the push versus pull principles, a pull system will have a higher throughput than a pull system for any given WIP level.
We can use the diagnostic tool based on the practical worst case to evaluate an existing line. If we find that it is performing worse than the practical worst case, then this is a signal that improvements likely to be possible. These could be made via any of the improvement strategies listed earlier for closed lines, or by implementing pull to convert the open line into a closed line.