Kanbans are:

Communication devices from the point of use to the previous operation (customer
to supplier)
Purchase orders for your suppliers
Work orders for your manufacturing area
Visual communication tools
Paperwork eliminators
Kanbans are not appropriate for:
Single-piece or lot/batch production (for example, you would not try to set up a
service part that you run five pieces per year on a kanban)
Safety stock
Systems that require suppliers to carry inventory and its associated carrying costs
(lean is about win-win; consignment and other inventory schemes are not win-
win).
Long-range planning tools (changes in part number usage due to engineering
changes, customer shifts in product usage or new product introductions must be
handled by more traditional methods)
Launch your kanban initiative with no more than six to eight items that represent only
one area of your facility. Make sure the organization knows about the kanban
launch. When these items are flowing smoothly and organizational support for kanbans
has increased, add more items and more areas.
Guidelines
1) Kanban implementation prerequisites include:
Setup reduction (without setup reduction in place, order sizes are not reduced
and we have what we do now batch production)
Levelized or uniform requirements/production (while there are techniques for
kanbans to work in environments where demand is erratic, the kanban learning
curve should start with fairly uniform requirements)
2) Certify your external suppliers. Certified means that a suppliers deliveries are not
subject to receiving inspection based on outstanding quality history. Supplier part
kanbans which are rejected or placed on hold can severely disrupt the kanban.
3) Initially, paint all the totes, carts and other reusable containers one new and very
visible color (I suggest bright green). This gives the kanban initiative great visibility to
everyone in the organization during the launch period. It also gives your team an
opportunity to easily spot any containers/signals that are out of place.

4) Use kanban supermarkets.
Supermarkets are intermediate storage areas (at the customer) between the
supplier and the customers (users) for that supplier.
Supermarkets are used when there are multiple internal customers for an
external supplier and/or multiple internal customers for an internal supplier.
Supermarkets prevent the supplier from receiving a multitude of signals from all
the organizations internal customers for that supplier.
With a supermarket, the internal or external supplier receives replenishment
signals from only the customers supermarket.


Kanban Rules
1) Do not attempt to kanban an information product or physical part/product without the
complete involvement of all the members of the value-added chain, including your
external suppliers and customers! Remember, you cannot become a world-class
enterprise without world-class suppliers.
2) Strive for quality at the source. Do not send defective information or physical
products to your customer. Defects must be corrected immediately. Defective products
will cause your customers line to shut down.

3) Kanbans require reliable equipment for support. Implement kanbans internally in
areas where Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is already in place.

4) Focus kanbans on products and part numbers with stable month-to-month delivery
requirements and short setup and lead times. Concentrate setup reduction and raw
material lead-time reduction efforts on the parts that have wide variations in month-to-
month customer requirements.

5) All internal or external suppliers must have, or should be helped to develop, setup
reduction programs. The true power of kanbans can be unleashed only when setup times
do not influence manufacturing capacity and, therefore, lead time.
6) Suppliers should deliver all material directly to their customer (point of use). For
suppliers who are not certified (incoming inspection required), the point of use should be
taught to perform this inspection or the supplier should be replaced with a certified
supplier.
7) Kanbans are not cast in cement some experimentation is required. Be prepared to
make adjustments initially as sales levels change or as other improvement activities
reduce the required number of containers or kanban cards.