Conveyor Chain Central

What is Kanban?

Kanban means “visual card” in Japanese and was developed by Toyota. Kanban helps organizations employ just-in-time (JIT) production. It is employed as a cue that is emitted through the supply chain to tell staff when a supply is required. For example, if a card is strategically placed at the bottom of a carton of supplies with data about the supply on it, the staff member that uses up the last of that carton of supplies takes the card and sends it on to the supply manufacturing area so that more can be ordered. More are only ordered when the previous supply is used up.

Kanban is referred to as a pull system in the production business. Pull means demand. New supplies are ordered only when a demand for them is necessary. Cards are not the sole method of new supplies being ordered. If a box or pallet runs out of supplies it had, for example, the empty box or pallet can cue that a new order needs to be made.

There are metal manufacturers that will help organizations that buy from them cultivate Kanban systems. This will allow a business to have a JIT system and only have to have the manufacturer produce a product when needed.

Kanban Advantages

Some Kanban system advantages include inventory control so it is always lean and low turnover raw materials are minimized. When inventory turnover is maximized, productivity is increased. Floor space need is reduced because it is not required to accommodate a large inventory. Customer response is improved and production lead time is improved upon since the whole production system is based on client needs.

How Does Kanban Apply in the Real World?

In our business, Maloya, we effectively utilized the Kanban system. This was accomplished by a number of methods. One method was to utilize carts that were organized with the specific parts required to put together a product. Each cart was filled with all of the part numbers and parts to construct one of the heaters as well as photographs of the pieces required. Through this format of organization, the welders could build the product and not have to spend their valuable time looking for and amassing all the required pieces to build the product. When the cart was empty, this acted as the Kanban visual card or cue that the cart required to be refilled, or supplies needed to be replenished. Any inventory differences would also be discovered previous to production.

The Kanban visual cue for heater production is when the first substantial piece is produced, which is the outer shell of the heater. The employees in production will see the large outer shell and know that they are to build a heater. In this Kanban visual cueing method, a scheduling system is unnecessary as the staff members understand by what they see what they should be working on. When they notice the availability of a component, it sets off a chain reaction of a series of certain events, setting off the heater production cycle.

As part of the Kanban method, Maloya also used an inventory tagging process. In this process, red tags meant that a material was supplied by a client. Green tags meant the material was for inventory. Yellow was a tag for a material that was bought for certain orders. This tagging further improved the efficiency of the process. A color-coded system was also put into place on the shop floor for work order travelers. The colors communicate to the staff on the floor information about the product. For example, blue would be a basic component that is manufactured and shipped. Orange would mean a part for sub-assemblies, yellow is for sub-assembly components and black is for final assembly.

Kanban is an efficient method to have less inventories on the floor. It also is efficient in communicating to staff what to work on next. As long as everyone understands the Kanban system, it can help streamline work flow in a manufacturing setting.

Reto Hug is the President of Maloya which specializes in laser cutting technologies and complex metal manufacturing using highly specialized laser systems targeting medical, aerospace, scientific and transportation needs.

Visit Wilkie Brothers Conveyors for all of your Rebuilt Conveyor Chain needs or Blue Water Mfg for other Conveyor Chain needs.