What is Kanban?

Kanban is a scheduling system used in lean and just-in-time manufacturing. The system was developed by the Vice President of Toyota, Taiichi Ohno. This inventory control system is named after colored cards used in tracking production and managing new shipment orders.

When is Kanban Used?

The Kanban system aims at making both suppliers and buyers visible at all the times. It ensures there is no excess inventory and the development and production teams are not overburdened. In this system, pressure is applied by the buyers; when the demand for products is high, production is increased. The system observes that, in cased when inventory limits are exceeded, there is an efficiency that needs to be addressed. When using this system, color-coded cards are used. When parts and materials are emptied from storage containers, a card is delivered to tell the production team to produce more before a shortage is experienced. Two cards are used: a T-Kanban signals the container to move to the next workstation and a P-Kanban signals workstations to produce a given amount of products or product parts. To enhance the efficiency of the Kanban system, electronic Kanban, E-kanban systems are used by Toyota, Ford Motors and Bombardier Aerospace among others. A good example of Kanban system is CONWIP in which production of a new product is triggered by the finishing of another product on the production line.