8/11/2019 Kanbans Are

1/3

Kanbans are:

Communication devices from the point of use to the previous operation (customer

to supplier)

Purchase orders for your suppliers

Work orders for your manufacturing area

Visual communication tools

Paperwork eliminators

Kanbans are not appropriate for:

Single-piece or lot/batch production (for example, you would not try to set up a

service part that you run five pieces per year on a kanban)

Safety stock

Systems that require suppliers to carry inventory and its associated carrying costs

(lean is about win-win; consignment and other inventory schemes are not win-win).

Long-range planning tools (changes in part number usage due to engineering

changes, customer shifts in product usage or new product introductions must be

handled by more traditional methods)

Launch your kanban initiative with no more than six to eight items that represent only

one area of your facility. Make sure the organization knows about the kanban

launch. When these items are flowing smoothly and organizational support for kanbans

has increased, add more items and more areas.

Guidelines

1) Kanban implementation prerequisites include:

Setup reduction (without setup reduction in place, order sizes are not reduced

and we have what we do now batch production)

Levelized or uniform requirements/production (while there are techniques for

kanbans to work in environments where demand is erratic, the kanban learning

curve should start with fairly uniform requirements)

2) Certify your external suppliers. Certified means that a suppliersdeliveries are notsubject to receiving inspection based on outstanding quality history. Supplier part

kanbans which are rejected or placed on hold can severely disrupt the kanban.

3) Initially, paint all the totes, carts and other reusable containers one new and very

visible color (I suggest bright green). This gives the kanban initiative great visibility to

everyone in the organization during the launch period. It also gives your team an

opportunity to easily spot any containers/signals that are out of place.

4) Use kanban supermarkets.

Supermarkets are intermediate storage areas (at the customer) between the

supplier and the customers (users) for that supplier.

8/11/2019 Kanbans Are

2/3

Supermarkets are used when there are multiple internal customers for an

external supplier and/or multiple internal customers for an internal supplier.

Supermarkets prevent the supplier from receiving a multitude of signals from all

the organizations internal customers forthat supplier.

With a supermarket, the internal or external supplier receives replenishment

signals from only the customers supermarket.

Kanban Rules

1) Do not attempt to kanban an information product or physical part/product without thecomplete involvement of all the members of the value-added chain, including your

8/11/2019 Kanbans Are

3/3

external suppliers and customers! Remember, you cannot become a world-class

enterprise without world-class suppliers.

2) Strive for quality at the source. Do not send defective information or physical

products to your customer. Defects must be corrected immediately. Defective products

will cause your customers line to shut down.

3) Kanbans require reliable equipment for support. Implement kanbans internally in

areas where Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is already in place.

4) Focus kanbans on products and part numbers with stable month-to-month delivery

requirements and short setup and lead times. Concentrate setup reduction and raw

material lead-time reduction efforts on the parts that have wide variations in month-to-

month customer requirements.

5) All internal or external suppliers must have, or should be helped to develop, setupreduction programs. The true power of kanbans can be unleashed only when setup times

do not influence manufacturing capacity and, therefore, lead time.

6) Suppliers should deliver all material directly to their customer (point of use). For

suppliers who are not certified (incoming inspection required), the point of use should be

taught to perform this inspection or the supplier should be replaced with a certified

supplier.

7) Kanbans are not cast in cement some experimentation is required. Be prepared to

make adjustments initially as sales levels change or as other improvement activities

reduce the required number of containers or kanban cards.