Kanban Case Study

Chapter II
Understanding Kanban

Know-how and JIT

The production process is determined by the way its elements are designed within the organization according to the overall vision of the company. The managerial belt is therefore responsible for designing the processes and the flow of manufacturing of products or services. One way to operate the production is called traditional. It is based on the presumption that the previously met demand on the market will determine the upcoming one. Thus, the operation is planned the way that allows to create enough inventory for being ready to address any customer’s need. It turns out that this inventory, or work-in-process (WIP) accumulates, whilst the empirical evidence shows that in dependence with the

Withdrawing means transferring the product from one manufacturing unit to another or sending the request. In reality, this is actually the system the is implemented. Two types of kanbans are being exchanged and this way the operations are performed. Although, the perfect conditions prescribe having one product on track, thus, in double-kanban view, one-time exchange of kanban cards help through all the performing units, such a case is almost impossible due to the complexity of the environment, where hundreds of clients and products may be considered at the limited amount of time. It provokes the modifications and adoptions of such a Just-In-Time model. Continuing with the Japanese approach, it is definitely worth to say that implication of Kanban system itself is not enough for fostering the efficacy and efficiency of the

Heijunka refers to the production leveling. It allows to average the demand for different products, prioritize them and decide on what to produce. In difference to the large batch-approach, where one type of product is being produced during a certain amount of time because of the high changeover ratio, Heijunka may inquire to produce a mix of products, where some may be finished, some may not, during the time period set by the developers’ team at their response. Another thing to discuss, and also the one that is most significant are people. Kanban is people-oriented. If the traditional approach required a person per machine, Kanban requires (actually, not requires, but recommends) teams, that are project-motivated, instead of task-concentrated. Hereby, a person may be responsible for the set of operations, machine maintenance and quality/defects control. One advantage of the kanban, and overall lean manufacturing philosophy is to trace but not evaluate quality of the FG. Hence, people are working in teams, where a particular team may be obliged to certain production or delivery operation, thus, transferring kanbans. Teams usually consist of not more than 7 people, which also explains the lowered size of the batch. This way, using the Heijunka table the functional team is able to generate minimal amount of WIP, however, staying ready to address the needs for different products, and chasing the demand with