Kanban is a method for effective consumption-based control of material replenishment in production. Material components that have a regular consumption are kept in small quantities in containers that circulate between the work centers or production lines and a replenishment source, such as a warehouse for example. Replenishment of a material component is triggered when a container in production becomes empty. A sufficiently large number of containers circulate between the supply source and production to ensure a steady supply.
Kanban offers the following advantages:
The replenishment process is designed to be self-controlling.
The inputs in the system are reduced to a minimum, e.g. to the input of a barcode to set a container to empty or full.
The supply sources are informed faster about the requirements situation at the work centers or production lines.
Replenishment elements such as stock transfer reservations, production orders or purchase orders are created automatically.
Goods receipts from the replenishment elements to the storage locations of the work centers or productions lines are posted automatically.
Inventory information is always up to date.
Lead times and stock levels are reduced.
The system collects data about the Kanban process, which can be used for process optimization.
Kanban Principle
