KANBAN

Definition of Kanban System

The word Kanban originates from the Japanese language and was developed by Taiichi Ohno, an
engineer working for Toyota in Japan. The engineer wanted to create a simple system that would be
used in controlling and managing inventory at every point of production. Kanban is a system which
controls inventory and make production more efficient. This system provides opportunities to
identify and improve production process.
Some advantages of the Kanban system are:

1. Better visualization of any problems that might occur in the production cycle.

2. Teams can communicate more efficiently due to the highly visual nature of the system.
3. Achieve just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing by noting the lead time and cycle time of full
production process.

The Kanban system reduces the idle time that is experienced in the production cycle making the
team more efficient. Teams might be wasting time within the production cycle with issues like low
stocks. All these challenges can be identified by the manager by implementing Kanban system.

The 4 Kanban Core Practices

1. Start With What You Do Now
2. Agree to Pursue Incremental, Evolutionary Change
3. Respect the Current Process, Roles & Responsibilities
4. Encourage Acts of Leadership at All Levels

The 6 Practices of Kanban

1. Visualize the Workflow
To visualize your process with a Kanban system, you will need a board with cards and columns. Each
column on the board represents a step in your workflow. Each Kanban card represents a work item.
Only after understanding how the flow of work currently functions can you aspire to improve it by
making the necessary adjustments.
When you start working on item X, you pull it from the “To Do” column, and when it is completed,
you move it to “Done”. This way, you can easily track progress and spot bottlenecks.

2. Limit Work in Progress

One of Kanban's primary functions is to ensure a manageable number of active items in progress at
any one time. If there are no work-in-progress limits, you are not doing Kanban. Switching a team’s
focus halfway through will generally harm the process, and multitasking is a sure route to generating
waste and inefficiency.

3. Manage Flow
Managing the flow is about managing the work but not the people. By flow, we mean
the movement of work items through the production process.
One of the main goals when implementing a Kanban system is to create a smooth,
healthy flow. Instead of micro-managing people and trying to keep them busy all the
time, we should focus on managing the work processes and understanding how to get
 that work faster through the system. This would mean that our Kanban system is
creating value more quickly.
4. Make Process Policies Explicit
People would not associate and participate in something they do not believe would be
useful. When everyone is familiar with the common goal, they would be able to work and
make decisions regarding a positive impact.
5. Feedback Loops
Feedback loops are like the heart beat making all the organization move at the same
rhythm. Kanban defines seven specific feedback loops, or cadences. Cadences are the
cyclical reviews that drive continuous improvement and effective service delivery. 
There are also the service delivery review, the operations review, strategy review, and the risk
review meetings. The frequency depends on many factors, but the idea is that they are regular, at a
strictly fixed hour, straight to the point, and never unnecessarily long.
The ideal average length of a stand up should be between 10-15 minutes, and others may reach up
to an hour or more depending on the team size and topics.

6. Improve Collaboratively (using models & the

scientific method)
The way to achieve continuous improvement and sustainable change within an organization is
through a shared vision of a better future and a collective understanding of the issues that need
fixing. Teams with a shared understanding of their goals, workflow, process, and risks are more likely
to build a shared comprehension of a problem and work together towards improvement.

The Positive Side of Kanban

Nowadays, many organizations adopt the Kanban method to become more agile and bring order to
their chaotic work processes. Simply said, a Kanban system helps you get more work done.

In the following figure we can see a basic Kanban board, representing the simplest
version of a Kanban System. 
The Kanban System is defined by an entry point and an exit point, represented in this board by
the Commitment Point and Delivery Point. Within this limits it is full responsibility of the
team/service members. Outside its boundaries, it might be needed to keep track of what is
going on, but it is no longer their responsibility. If we want we can always link two disconnected
processes by means of a bigger Kanban System embracing several teams.

Within the limits of the Kanban System is where we can measure three of the basic performance
metrics:

 Lead Time
 Throughput (Delivery Rate)
 Work in Progress
As you can see, columns in side the Kanban System are divided into “In Progress” and “Done”. This is
done to explicitly indicate the status of a piece of work. A work item within the system can only be in
three states: in progress, done or blocked. What I don’t like is to put a buffer after a column to
indicate that the item is done waiting to be pulled, because that is no longer a pull system and might
provoke the wrong behavior. You can also indicate visually with a sticker on top of the work item its
status.