The third kit in the Flow series. The bottleneck works unevenly — and the factory either floods it with parts or leaves it without work. On top of the built kits FL-01 and FL-02 you build a buffer counter on ready CMOS 4000 chips: an IR pair after Herbie, two CD4029 counting down (two’s complement) and two CD4008 adders show how many parts are waiting for the bottleneck. Two CD4585 comparators and three gates turn it into a rope: a part is released only while the buffer is below the goal. The experiment «push or pull» shows why feedback beats a timetable. With the history: Herbie at the head of the column, the book «The Race», kanban versus plans and the first programmable controller. 6 chips, 1,648 transistors.
This kit is free: all lessons are open, no sign-up needed.