February 9, 2001 Issue:

Justifying Lean Thinking in a Traditional Accounting World

Build-To-Order to Cut GM Inventory in Half
Collaboration Innovation Platform Launched
Toyota Site Visits Reveal Best Practices
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What's Unique About the Kanban System?

By Michel Baudin
In many Western publications, the word Kanban has come to stand for a
variety of items ranging from shelves, bins, electronic messages, and order
slips to the entire reorder point system. In lean manufacturing, however, it is a
specific method of regulating the flow of some parts in cellular shop-floor
environments and with nearby suppliers and customers. The Kanban is used
in conjunction with many other tools including the following: leveled
sequencing at final assembly, the body-on-sequence system for optionspecific parts, simpler types of pull signals where feasible, milk-run logistics,
and consignment/pay-per-build for nuts, bolts, washers and other small
standard parts.
The Kanban system is simply a small piece of a large puzzle. Taken out of
context, it has received a disproportionate share of both media and academic
attention; focused on how similar its essence and philosophy are to older,
similar approaches. Although wanting to relate the Kanban system to the
familiar is a natural reaction, this kind of effort cannot explain why it works so
well. It would be more useful to focus on the differences than on the
similarities. The answers are not to be found in philosophy but in practical
details.
The Kanban system is a means of letting people--manufacturing operators,
logistics personnel, even truck drivers--know what to do. It is information
system centered on an instrument of communication called a Kanban. To
describe its practical details, we need to examine it from three angles: what
Kanbans physically are, the rules governing their use, and how they map to
the floor.
The most common form of Kanban is a card with data printed on it. The cards
vary in shape, size, and content, and sometimes are replaced by other
devices, such as golf balls. They are always physical tokens, though that you
can hold in your hand, read, and attach to or detach from other objects. Unlike
shelves, they are easy to move. Unlike bins, they can be lined up on bulletin
boards, and they can't hold parts. They also are not electronic messages.
While computerized data has its advantages, though, you can do things with

Kanbans that you can't do easily with e-mail, such as attaching a card to a
bin.
The rules for using Kanbans are what make them more than just pieces of
cardboard, and these rules must become second nature to all manufacturing
people who come in contact with the cards. One rule, for example, is that the
Kanban must be removed from a full bin when its first part is picked. This
must become a learned reflex for all people involved in using Kanbans. This
takes years to accomplish. Even companies with years of experience with
Kanbans should provide periodic reminders and booster shots of training to
prevent slippage. Change the rules, however, and you are using a different
system. If it works better, you have made an improvement. If it doesn't, you
are on your own. You have voided your "warranty," just as if you had changed
a chip inside your computer.
More likely than not, when you map the Kanban to your shop, you will find
that, far from restricting your creativity, they present a range of options that
you most likely had not considered before. Kanbans are supposed to make
life easier for users. If you find they do not do so in a particular application,
then it may mean that another type of pull signal would work better there. One
reason for the success of Kanbans is that they are often not an addition to
existing paperwork, but a replacement for it.
Traditional transporters on the shop floor, for example, rely on routing slips to
tell them what they should pick up, where to pick it up, and where they should
take it. These slips must be printed by a clerk and disposed of or archived
after use. Wherever you implement move cards, you can eliminate the routing
slips, because the item identification, the "from" and "to" locations, are on the
Kanban. It doubles as a reusable routing slip, which simplifies the paperwork.
Supplier cards, likewise, double as commercially binding orders.
Describing all these practical details is beyond the scope of this article. The
main point is that the cards, not the philosophy or the broad picture, are the
keys to successful implementation of the Kanban system. This fact is welldocumented in publications such as Y. Monden's Toyota Production System
(IIE, 1993) or in the JMA's KANBAN: Just-in-time at Toyota (Productivity
Press, 1989).
Click here to view Figure 1
Byline: Michel Baudin
Bio: Michel Baudin is with MMTI, the Manufacturing Management &
Technology Institute. He can be contacted at Michel.Baudin@mmt-inst.com.
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