KANBAN

Willy Høydal - May 2009

 What is KANBAN?
KANBAN is a scheduling system that synchronizes up-
stream production based on downstream consumption
It tells you:
• What to produce
• When to produce it, and
• How much to produce

KANBAN was primarily developed for production, but it originated from the
supermarket system and it can also be applied to many other areas.
KANBAN helps to control inventory levels and thus we may use it to lower
costs.
A correctly leveled KANBAN system will promote flow in the production.
Indirectly KANBAN focuses on the human factors of production and involves
multi-machine manning, cell manufacturing, standard operations, quality
control, continuous improvements etc.

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 When to do KANBAN
• Even though KANBAN is not an inventory control system, it is
possible to do a simple KANBAN for inventory control of for
example screws/washers/nuts/cables.

• A more complex KANBAN system could be implemented based

on the results from for example Value Stream Mapping and
would focus on the flow of parts in the production.

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 Example of simple KanBan system
A pill dispenser to make sure that “whoever” takes the correct medicine at
the right time. On the back of the box is a card describing which pills go
into which compartment, and on the front side there is a description of
when to empty each compartment. When all compartments are empty you
just fill them again in accordance with the description on the back.

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 Example of simple KanBan system

Click to see video:

No Kanban Cards.flv

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