ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC CO-OPERATION

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL & CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Assignment No. 01

KANBAN SYSTEM
Course No: MCE-4821
Course Name: Material Handling

Submitted by,
Mohammad Tosif Nur Zahin
Student ID: 151442
Program: B.Sc. Engg. (MCE)
Contents
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................2
BASIC PRINCIPAL OF KANBAN SYSTEM ............................................................................2
1) Start with what you do now .................................................................................................2
2) Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change ...............................................................2
3) Respect the current process, roles, responsibilities & titles ...................................................3
4) Encourage acts of leadership at all levels .............................................................................3
CORE PROPERTIES OF KANBAN SYSTEM ..........................................................................3
1) Visualize the workflow ........................................................................................................3
2) Limit WIP ...........................................................................................................................4
3) Manage flow........................................................................................................................4
4) Make Process Policies Explicit ............................................................................................4
5) Improve Collaboratively (using models & the scientific method) .........................................5
THE 6 RULES TO IMPLEMENT THE KANBAN SYSTEM ....................................................5
BENEFITS OF KANBAN SYSTEM ..........................................................................................5
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KANBAN AND SCRUM ................................................................6
THE CLASSIC KANBAN EXAMPLE .......................................................................................6
SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................7

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INTRODUCTION
Kanban, as we know it in Software Development and LEAN terminology, originates from the
Toyota Production System and was developed by Taiichi Ohno to improve and maintain a high
level of production. The word Kanban originates from Japanese where “Kan” means “visual” and
“ban” means “signal”.
Kanban is defined as one of the Lean tools designed to reduce the idle time in a production process.
The main idea behind the Kanban system is to deliver what the process needs, exactly when it
needs it.
In software development industry, Kanban is a popular framework used to implement agile
software development. It requires real-time communication of capacity and full transparency of
work. Work items are represented visually on a Kanban board, allowing team members to see the
state of every piece of work at any time.
So, to summarize Kanban is

• Kanban is a signal to start an action.

• This action can be a material or product need.
• It could be even a visual sign for assistance or information request.
The Kanban Method, as formulated by David J. Anderson, is an approach to incremental,
evolutionary process and systems change for organizations. Hence, Kanban is that, it is

• a way to organize the chaos that surrounds so many delivery teams by making the need for
prioritization and focus clear.
• a way to uncover workflow and process problems so you may solve them in order to deliver
more consistently to your client/customer/etc.
Kanban accomplishes these things by introducing constraints into the system to optimize the flow
of value. Flow is king.

BASIC PRINCIPAL OF KANBAN SYSTEM

1) Start with what you do now
The Kanban method does not prescribe a certain setup or procedure. One can overlay Kanban
properties on top of existing workflow or process to bring issues to light so that he can introduce
positive change over time. This makes it very easy to begin a Kanban implementation as there is
no need to make sweeping changes.

2) Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change

The Kanban method is an approach to change management that is designed to meet minimal
resistance. Therefore, it encourages continuous small incremental and evolutionary changes to
current system. Sweeping changes are discouraged because they generally encounter increased
resistance due to fear or uncertainty.

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3) Respect the current process, roles, responsibilities & titles
Kanban recognizes that there may be value in the existing process, roles, responsibilities, & titles.
There are existing pieces in the way of doing as it is, that are working properly and worth
preserving. Kanban doesn’t prohibit change, but it doesn’t prescribe it either. If to make changes,
Kanban encourages incremental change that doesn’t create the level of fear that impedes progress,
which allows to generate broader support for Kanban implementation. It also makes it easier to
implement Kanban. Small course corrections are also just inherently easier than altering the
complete process.

4) Encourage acts of leadership at all levels

It is something that is espoused in many methodologies and the Kanban method is no exception.
Some of the best leadership comes from everyday acts from people on the front line of their
respective teams. Everyone needs to be fostering a mindset of continual improvement (kaizen) to
reach one’s optimal performance as a team/department/company. This can’t be a management
level activity.

CORE PROPERTIES OF KANBAN SYSTEM

In his book, Kanban – Successful Evolutionary Change for your Technology Business, David
Anderson identified five core properties that he consistently observed in successful
implementations of the Kanban method.

1) Visualize the workflow

The goal of Kanban is to make positive change to optimize the flow of work through the system.
Only after understanding how the workflow currently functions, can one aspire to improve it by
making the correct adjustments. Making changes before understanding the workflow is putting the
proverbial cart before the horse and can cause to make choices that are, at best, unhelpful and, at
worst, harmful. The most common way to visualize workflow is to use card walls with cards and
columns. Each column on the wall represents steps in workflow.

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It is recommended to visualize incoming work requests and the ways in which this can be done.
For transactional work, the 4 categories defined by cost of delay:
• Expedite
• Fixed Date
• Standard
• Intangible
For project work, other criteria such as market risk might provide more information when
classifying work. Commonly used market risk categories include:
• Differentiators
• Spoilers
• Cost reducers
• Table stakes
The big thing to remember is that there is no, one right workflow or one right way to categorize
work requests. Kanban doesn’t prescribe a specific workflow.

2) Limit WIP
Limiting work-in-progress implies that a pull system is implemented on parts or all of the
workflow. The critical elements are that work-in-progress at each state in the workflow is limited
and that new work is “pulled” into the next step when there is available capacity within the local
WIP limit. These constraints will quickly illuminate problem areas in flow so they can be identified
and resolved. Limiting WIP is the cornerstone of Kanban.

3) Manage flow
The whole point of implementing a Kanban system is to create positive change. Before creating
that change, one must know what to change. It is known by looking at how much value is currently
flowing through the system, analyzing problem areas in which value flow is stalled and defining,
then implementing, changes. Then, the cycle is repeated to see what effect the changes had, on the
system to know if the change had a positive or negative impact on the things that had to change.

4) Make Process Policies Explicit

As noted in “Visualize your workflow” above, the process needs to be defined, published and
socialized — explicitly and succinctly. Without an explicit understanding of how things work and
how work is actually done, any discussion of problems tends to be emotional, anecdotal and
subjective. When everyone really understands what is going on and what the goals are, then the
decision makings regarding the change will move in a positive direction. The choices will be more
rational, empirical, objective discussion of issues. This is more likely to facilitate consensus around
improvement suggestions.

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5) Improve Collaboratively (using models & the scientific
method)
As discussed, the Kanban method encourages small continuous, incremental and evolutionary
changes that stick. When teams have a shared understanding of theories about work, workflow,
process, and risk, they are more likely to be able to build a shared comprehension of a problem
and suggest improvement actions which can be agreed by consensus.
The Kanban method suggests that a scientific approach is used to implement continuous,
incremental and evolutionary changes. There are various models, including:
• The Theory of Constraints (the study of bottlenecks)
• The System of Profound Knowledge (a study of variation and how it affects
processes)
• Lean Economic Model (based on the concepts of “waste” (or muda, muri and
mura))

THE 6 RULES TO IMPLEMENT THE KANBAN

SYSTEM
To implement and let the Kanban works properly you have to follow the 6 rules.
1) Customer (downstream) processes withdraw items in the precise amounts specified by
the Kanban.
2) Supplier (upstream) produces items in the precise amounts and sequences specified by
the Kanban.
3) No items are made or moved without a Kanban.
4) A Kanban should accompany each item, every time.
5) Defects and incorrect amounts are never sent to the next downstream process.
6) The number of Kanban is reduced carefully to lower inventories and to reveal
problems.

BENEFITS OF KANBAN SYSTEM

Kanban and Scrum at their core are summarized by the premise: Stop Starting, Start Finishing.
The entire team’s focus is on getting to done for the tasks in progress.

• Shorter cycle times can deliver features faster.

• Responsiveness to Change:
• When priorities change very frequently, Kanban is ideal.
• Balancing demand against throughput guarantees that most the customer-centric features
are always being worked.
• Requires fewer organization / room set-up changes to get started
• Reducing waste and removing activities that do not add value to the
team/department/organization

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 • Rapid feedback loops improve the chances of more motivated, empowered and higher-
performing team members

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KANBAN AND SCRUM

Both Kanban and Scrum focus on releasing software early and often. Both require highly-
collaborative and self-managed teams. There are, however, differences between the approaches:

Kanban Scrum
Pre-defined roles of Scrum master, Product
No prescribed roles
owner and team member
Continuous Delivery Timeboxed sprints
Work is pulled through the system (single Work is pulled through the system in batches
piece flow) (the sprint backlog)
Changes can be made at any time No changes allowed mid-sprint
Cycle time Velocity
More appropriate in operational environments More appropriate in situations where work can
with a high degree of variability in priority be prioritized in batches that can be left alone

Organization, culture and team dynamics often determine which method is the best fit.

THE CLASSIC KANBAN EXAMPLE

KANBAN system has some golden rules as discussed before:
1. Everybody in the process have to clearly understand the signal.
2. The procedures activated by a KANBAN have to be defined by people who work in
the process. 3) They are the only persons that know the process in detail.
The "Classic Kanban" in the production process is generally organized in this way:
There are 3 bins (or boxes or containers), every bin has its own "Kanban Tag" with information
written on that.
• 1 bin is in the Point of Use (POU)
• 1 bin is in the Supermarket
• 1 bin is in the Warehouse
When the bin in the POU is empty, that means that they need pieces, the empty bin is moved to
the supermarket where it is exchanged with a full bin.
Then the supermarket moves the empty bin to the warehouse where it is exchanged with a full bin.
The warehouse now has to ask new pieces to the supplier and the cycle is closed.

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SUMMARY
Kanban (Japanese, signboard or billboard) is a lean method to manage and improve work across
human systems. This approach aims to manage work by balancing demands with available
capacity, and by improving the handling of system-level bottlenecks.
Work items are visualized to give participants a view of progress and process, from start to finish—
usually via a Kanban board. Work is pulled as capacity permits, rather than work being pushed
into the process when requested.
In knowledge work and in software development, the aim is to provide a visual process
management system which aids decision-making about what, when, and how much to produce.
The underlying Kanban method originated in lean manufacturing, which was inspired by the
Toyota Production System. Kanban is commonly used in software development in combination
with other methods and frameworks such as Scrum.
Although it is usually used for software development and software teams, the Kanban method has
been applied to other aspects of knowledge work. Business functions which have used Kanban
include:

• Human resources and recruitment

• Marketing
• Organizational strategy and executive leadership

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