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KANBAN SYSTEMS
INTRODUCTION
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1. Kanban (kahn-bahn) is a Japanese word that means
“card” or “visible record”.
2. In general context, it refers to a signal of some kind.
3. Thus, in the manufacturing environment, kanbans are
signals used to replenish the inventory of items used
repetitively within a facility.
4. The kanban system is based on a customer of a part
pulling the part from the supplier of that part.
5. The customer of the part can be an actual consumer of a
finished product (external) or the production personnel at
the succeeding station in a manufacturing facility
(internal).
6. Likewise, the supplier could be the person at the
preceding station in a manufacturing facility.
7. The premise of kanbans is that material will not be
produced or moved until a customer sends the signal to
do so.
WORKING OF KANBAN SYSTEMS
1. Kanban is a production control system 3
2. “Communication” takes place when a successor (upstream)
workstation issues a request for parts to the output “buffer” of a
predecessor (downstream) work station.
3. When the “desired” level of stock of completed parts (in the buffer) is
depleted, the work center reacts to replace the removed parts and to
maintain a balanced, target level of finished parts.
4. Kanban includes information on: (a) part type (b) number of units (c)
location of materials needed to produce them.
5. Each type of part produced by a work center has its own Kanban, each
Kanban authorizes a particular number of units of that part type.
KANBAN AUTHORIZATION CONCEPT
1. 4
Each work center is responsible to keep a full container of
parts for each kanban allocated to that work center.
2. If the container is not full for a kanban, then the
kanban authorizes production of the deficient units.
3. When a deficient item is to be produced, material handler
proceeds to the predecessor (down stream) to requisition the
required parts/ material.
4. As these parts are delivered, this workstation automatically
begins to replace this stock.
5. All this action takes place just because of the appearance of
the material handler at output buffer to remove a container of
parts.
6. No other production scheduling information is supplied to the
work center.
7. By using this simple authorization procedure, kanban systems
avoid the need to maintain a direct information link between
the long range production plan and operational schedule.
Operation of SINGLE KANBAN SYSTEM
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11. Lead time in kanban extends from the time a kanban is removed
from a container until that kanban re-enters the output buffer with a
full container of parts.
KANBAN FUNCTION 8
2 1
6
Kanban Finished Customer
5 goods order
1
Work
1 cell
7
9 Ship
7 3
Raw Kanban Kanban
Material 8 Final
Supplier 1 assembly
Kanban Kanban 4
0
Sub-
Purchased 9 assembly
6
Parts Kanban
Supplier
8
Operation of DUAL KANBAN SYSTEM
EXTRA
BUFFER 9
b) Family Rules:
i. In some work areas, parts can be divided into families based on setup
requirements
ii. A family of part may share same fixture or other tooling with quick
change overs being possible between parts in the same family.
iii. In this case, we fill all the kanban orders for parts in the same family at
the same time.
iv. Families can be scheduled on the basis that which family has been
waiting the longest.
RULES FOR SCHEDULING KANBAN PRODUCTION
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c) Minimum Economic Order Quantity: 4
To justify a set-up from an economic point of view, the operator
may
need to wait until a minimum number of kanbans of a particular
type are on the schedule board.
d) Signal Kanbans:
i. Used when minimum economic order quantity (EOQ) is
used.
ii. EOQ may result from large set-up cost or time.
iii. A signal that authorizes production of the EOQ is used.
iv. The re-order point is determined, using standard inventory
models, i.e. lead time demand + safety stock point.
v. Signal kanban is placed on the re-order point level
vi. When the inventory level drops to this level, the signal
kanban is removed and used to initiate replenishment
order.
RULES FOR SCHEDULING KANBAN PRODUCTION
e) Cyclical Production – Continuous Time: 1
i. 5 of
If machine set-ups are dependent on the sequence
part types produced, parts may be produced in fixed,
repeating sequence, i.e. part A, then B, then C and so on.
ii. The sequence is specified to minimize change over
time.
iii. Each time a part type completes processing, kanban on the
schedule board for the next part type in the sequence are
counted and production is set to this amount.
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1. Kanbans are not restricted to internal suppliers only.
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2. To operate effectively, members of entire supply chain, from
basic raw materials through finished products, must work
together to ensure a continuous re-supply of parts.
3. This usually involves multiple plant locations and multiple
companies.
4. Typically long term contracts are established to ensure the supply
of materials.
5. Frequent deliveries are made to replenish the consumed stock.
6. If supplier and customer are in close proximity, delivery trucks
may be in constant motion between the sites for high volume
industries.
7. At any point in time, we may have one loaded vehicle in motion
carrying parts to the customer, another vehicle in motion
returning to the facility that produces the raw parts, yet another
vehicle being filled at the production site and the final vehicle
being emptied at the customer’s location
8. The feasibility of this strategy depends on the total volume.
SPECIFYING PARAMETER
1. VALUES
The kanban 1
system operates without high-level coordination.
2. The control parameters for the system are the container
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size and the number of kanbans for each part type.
Methods of setting the values of these parameters:
SELECTION OF CONTAINER SIZE:
3. Let ni be the number of units authorized by kanban for part
type “i”.
4. Inventory costs depend on the average inventory level, which
are usually small in kanban systems.
5. The average buffer inventory level is determined by the
maximum inventory level minus the expected number of
units on order.
6. The units on order are those which are currently in the
replenishment loop. Replenishment lead time and not the
container size, determine the average number of units on order.
7. The maximum inventory is ki . ni , where ki is the number of
kanbans for that part type “i”.
SPECIFYING PARAMETER 1
VALUES 8
SELECTION OF CONTAINER SIZE (cont. …..):