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Kanban: Trademark 17Th Century Calligraphy

Kanban is a lean manufacturing strategy that uses a pull system to manage inventory and production. It originated from signs used in Japanese shops and was later adapted by Toyota to control production using demand-based signals between processes. Kanban systems use cards or bins to trigger production only for what is needed by the next process, keeping excess inventory low and production efficient. Electronic kanban systems now integrate these signals digitally within supply chain management systems.

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159 views

Kanban: Trademark 17Th Century Calligraphy

Kanban is a lean manufacturing strategy that uses a pull system to manage inventory and production. It originated from signs used in Japanese shops and was later adapted by Toyota to control production using demand-based signals between processes. Kanban systems use cards or bins to trigger production only for what is needed by the next process, keeping excess inventory low and production efficient. Electronic kanban systems now integrate these signals digitally within supply chain management systems.

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atharpimt
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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KanBan

Origins
The term kamban describes an embellished wooden or metal
sign often representing a trademark or seal. Kamban became an
important part of the Japanese mercantile scene in the 17th
century, much like the military banners had been to the samurai.
Visual puns, calligraphy and ingenious shapes were employed to
indicate a trade and class of business or tradesman.
In the late 1940s, Toyota began studying supermarkets with a
view to applying store and shelf-stocking techniques to the
factory floor, figuring, in a supermarket, customers get what
they need, at the needed time, and in the needed amount.
Furthermore, the supermarket only stocks what it believes it will
sell, and customers only take what they need because future
supply is assured. This led Toyota to view a process as a
customer of preceding processes, and the preceding processes as
a kind of store. The customer process goes to this store to get
needed components, and the store restocks. As in supermarkets,
originally, signboards were used to guide "shoppers" to specific
restocking locations.
"Kanban" uses the rate of demand to control the rate of
production, passing demand from the end customer up through
the chain of customer-store processes. In 1953, Toyota applied
this logic in their main plant machine shop.[3]
[edit] Operation
An important determinant of the success of production
scheduling based on "pushing" the demand is the quality of the
demand forecast that can receive such "push."
Kanban, by contrast, is part of an approach of receiving the
"pull" from the demand. Therefore, the supply or production is
determined according to the actual demand of the customers. In
contexts where supply time is lengthy and demand is difficult to
forecast, the best one can do is to respond quickly to observed
demand. This is exactly what a kanban system can help: It is
used as a demand signal that immediately propagates through
the supply chain. This can be used to ensure that intermediate
stocks held in the supply chain are better managed, usually
smaller. Where the supply response cannot be quick enough to
meet actual demand fluctuations, causing significant lost sales,
then stock building may be deemed as appropriate which can be
achieved by issuing more kanban. Taiichi Ohno states that to be
effective kanban must follow strict rules of use [4] (Toyota, for
example, has six simple rules, below) and that close monitoring
of these rules is a never-ending task to ensure that the kanban
does what is required.
[edit] Toyota's six rules

 Do not send defective products to the subsequent process


 The subsequent process comes to withdraw only what is
needed
 Produce only the exact quantity withdrawn by the
subsequent process
 Equalize production
 Kanban is a means to fine tuning
 Stabilize and rationalize the process
[edit] Three-bin system
A simple example of the kanban system implementation might
be a "three-bin system" for the supplied parts (where there is no
in-house manufacturing) — one bin on the factory floor
(demand point), one bin in the factory store, and one bin at the
suppliers' store. The bins usually have a removable card that
contains the product details and other relevant information —
the kanban card.
When the bin on the factory floor becomes empty, i.e, there is
demand for parts, the empty bin and kanban cards are returned
to the factory store. The factory store then replaces the bin on
the factory floor with a full bin, which also contains a kanban
card. The factory store then contacts the supplier’s store and
returns the now-empty bin with its kanban card. The supplier's
inbound product bin with its kanban card is then delivered into
the factory store completing the final step to the system. Thus
the process will never run out of product and could be described
as a loop, providing the exact amount required, with only one
spare so there will never be an oversupply. This 'spare' bin
allows for the uncertainty in supply, use and transport that are
inherent in the system. The secret to a good kanban system is to
calculate how many kanban cards are required for each product.
Most factories using kanban use the coloured board system
(Heijunka Box). This consists of a board created especially for
holding the kanban cards.

[edit] E-kanban systems


Many manufacturers have implemented electronic kanban
systems.[5] Electronic kanban systems, or E-Kanban systems,
help to eliminate common problems such as manual entry errors
and lost cards.[6] E-Kanban systems can be integrated into
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Integrating E-
Kanban systems into ERP systems allows for real-time demand
signaling across the supply chain and improved visibility. Data
pulled from E-Kanban systems can be used to optimize
inventory levels by better tracking supplier lead and
replenishment times.[7]

[edit] See also


 CONWIP
 C-VARWIP
 Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
 Just In Time (JIT)
 Manufacturing
 Material requirements planning (MRP)
 Manufacturing resource planning (MRP II)
 Scheduling (production processes)
 Supply chain management
 Drum-Buffer-Rope
 List of software development philosophies
 Lean software development
 Visual Control

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