What
is Kanban?
Kanban refers to a manufacturing process developed by Japanese manufacturers
to manage production and inventory.
Advantages
of Kanban over the traditional
push system:
1.
A
simple and understandable process
2.
Provides
quick and precise information
3.
Low
costs associated with the transfer
of information
4.
Provides
quick response to changes
5.
Limit
of over-capacity in processes
6.
Avoids
overproduction
7.
Is
minimizing waste
8.
Control
can be maintained
9.
Delegates
responsibility to line workers
"Kanban
represents an efficient tool to continuously
rationalize the production process
and find the source of problems" (Roos,
Lars-Uno. (1992) Resource Allocated
Production. Almqvist&Wiksell,
Malmo, Sweden: 115) Since the circulation
of Kanban will stop if there is a
production problem on line, it is
easy to both spot and correct the
problem instantaneously.
At MPM,
we have adopted this Kanban process
in on our manufacturing floor and
deliveries to our customers to control
costs.
To help control inventory and costs,
our customers
have contracted us to make-to-stock
the subcomponents, assemble the
parts, package it, and drop ship directly
to their customers.
