Heijunka (Japanese for “leveling”) is a Lean management tool used to evenly distribute production capacity and systems, and to translate fluctuating customer demands into a consistent production structure. This involves creating production patterns for product variants over several stages. This is done, among other things, by setting production cycles and identifying suitable sequences. Heijunka focuses on aligning the process with customer demand, and therefore primarily considers customer needs to determine daily production quantities per product family. Important metrics include EPEI (Every Part Every Interval) and pitch.