Synerflex Consulting

Kanban card system is widely used today as a Lean tools to control inventory. According to Taiichi Ohno, the guru of Toyota Production System (TPS) and also Just-in-Time (JIT) concept, kanban is a means through which JIT is achieved. Kanban actually consists of 2 Japanese words – “kan” means “visual,” and “ban” means “card” or “board”). Kanban card system is a concept related to lean and just-in-time (JIT) production. The Japanese word kanban is a common term meaning “signboard” or “billboard”.

Originally, the term kanban describes an wooden or metal sign which has often been reduced to become a trade mark or seal. Since the 17th century, this expression in the Japanese mercantile system has been as important to the merchants of Japan as military banners have been to the samurai. Visual puns, calligraphy and ingenious shapes ? or kanban ? define the trade and class of a business or tradesman. Often produced within rigid Confucian restrictions on size and color, the signs and seals are masterpieces of logo and symbol design. For example, sumo wrestlers, a symbol of strength, may be used as kanban on a pharmacy’s sign to advertise a treatment for anemia.

In the late 1940s, Toyota was studying supermarkets with a view to applying some of their management techniques to their work. This interest came about because in a supermarket the customer can get what is needed at the time needed in the amount needed. The supermarket only stocks what it believes it will sell and the customers only take what they need because future supply is assured. This led Toyota to view earlier processes, to that in focus, as a kind of store. The process goes to this store to get its needed components and the store then replenishes those components. It is the rate of this replenishment, which is controlled by kanban card system that gives the permission to produce. In 1953, Toyota applied this method in their main plant machine shop.

Today, kanban card system is a signaling system to trigger action. As its name suggests, kanban historically uses cards to signal the need for an item. However, other devices such as plastic markers (kanban squares), balls (often golf balls), an empty trolley, pallets. bins, or even marked floor location can also be used to trigger the movement, production, or supply of a unit in a factory.

Check out the following video about Kanban Card System:

Note: By the way, Kanban is not spelled as “canban”. If you have any questions, please do post your questions by clicking the comment bubble below.

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Lean by Andrew Cheah