03

Service

3P — Production
Preparation
Process

For new production lines or radical process redesign. Nextep leads the full 3P cycle — from Seven Flows analysis through physical line standup. Built with your people. Owned by your team.

3P is the most powerful lean tool for new product launches, capacity expansions, and fundamental process redesigns. It doesn't optimize your current system — it replaces it with something built right from the start.

The Nextep 3P methodology brings a structured creative process to production design. Your workforce generates and evaluates every option. The result is a production system your people understand deeply and own completely.

65%+
Cycle Time Reduction
1
New Line Stood Up
∞
Gain Per Unit Produced

What Is 3P

Design the Right
Process From
The Start.

Traditional process improvement works on what exists. 3P starts with a blank page. It's a structured, intensive methodology for designing production systems from first principles — using cross-functional teams, rapid prototyping, and a systematic evaluation process to create a production system that is inherently lean before it ever produces a part.

3P is the right tool when you're launching a new product, expanding to a new line, relocating a process, or when the current system is so fundamentally flawed that incremental improvement won't get you where you need to go.

The Process

Seven Steps to
a Better Production
System.

01
Seven Flows Analysis
Map all seven production flows — operators, material, machines, information, engineering, quality, and process — to understand how work actually moves.
02
Takt Time Design
Establish the production rate required to meet customer demand without overproduction — the heartbeat of the new production system.
03
7-Ways Workshop
Teams generate seven distinct process designs for every major operation. Diversity of solutions is mandatory — it prevents anchoring on the familiar.
04
Moonshine Prototyping
Rapid physical prototypes built from raw materials to test concepts before committing capital. Problems are found with cardboard, not steel.
05
Design Selection
Structured multi-criteria evaluation to select the best design across all seven flows. Team consensus drives the decision — not management dictate.
06
Standard Work Development
Complete operator standard work, visual controls, and job instruction sheets built before the line is installed — not after.
07
Line Standup & Validation
Physical line construction, operator training, and production validation. Nextep stays until the line is running at takt and hitting its targets.

Is 3P Right For You?

When to Deploy
This Approach.

New Product Launch
Designing the production system before it's built is always faster and cheaper than fixing it after.
Line Relocation or Expansion
A move is the best opportunity to stop recreating the old layout and build something better.
Fundamental Redesign Required
When kaizen events and SMED have hit their limits and the constraint is the system itself, not individual processes within it.
Cycle Time Must Break
When competitive pressure, customer requirements, or capacity needs demand a step-change reduction — not incremental gains.

Client Result — Aerospace & Defense Manufacturer

65%+ Cycle Time Reduction.
New Production Line
Stood Up Simultaneously.

A 65%+ reduction in cycle time is not the result of a single process change — it is the result of redesigning how production work is organized, sequenced, and performed at a fundamental level. The 3P methodology Nextep deployed rebuilt the production system from first principles, with the workforce generating and selecting every design option.

Get Started

Build It Right
The First Time.

If you have a new line to stand up or a process that needs a fundamental rethink, let's talk about whether 3P is the right fit.

Schedule a Discovery Call See Verified Results