KANBAN

David Chen

IMS, University Bordeaux 1

Introduction

Just In Time
Juste A Temps:

Taiichi Ohno

Beginning of 50’s at Toyota

70s in North America

End of 80s in France
 Introduction

• Objective of Kanban method: Avoid

overproduction;
-> Produce too early is as bad as to produce too
late;
-> Kanban is an information system allowing to
manage physical flow at shop floor level;
Kanban method is very simple but the conditions for
its success are important and sometimes difficult to
implement.
Push / Pull system

MRP method
Programme Production

Kanban method Demand

Production

Push flow vs. Pull flow

MRP / KANBAN
MRP – Push flow

MRP

PO MO
Machine Machine Machine
Supplier 1 2 3 Customer

KANBAN – Pull Flow

Orders kanban kanban Demand

Supplier Machine Machine Machine

1 2 3 Customer
PHYSICAL FLOW
- Between 2 machines there is a flow of certain
number of containers
- A container transports a fixed quantity of products

machine o o o o o o
machine
2 3
 INFORMATION FLOW
- Between 2 machines there is a flow of certain number of Kanbans
- They are either on the planning or attached to containers
Planning
Kanban

machine machine
2 3
KANBAN Card
An example : Enterprise CPOAC group
BOSCH (Factory at Bonneville, Haute Savoie)

TUBE CULASSE 59827 O 1. 2

PROVENANCE DESTINATION

114 194 400

TOUR WG Pièces ASSEMBLAGE AUTO
CPOAC
Groupe BOSCH

(Source : A. Courtois et al. 1995)

KANBAN

Examples
 PLANNING OF KANBAN

- Visualize kanbans waiting for Planning

production Kanban

- Be informed of problems
downstream (no return of kanban)
- Define a priority for release the
production
- Know the stock of WIP : machine machine
2 3
WIP Stock = (A-B)*C
A: Quantity of Kanbans in circulation
B: Quantity of kanbans on the planning
C: Quantity of products per Kanban
RULES OF WORKING

1° The presence of Kanbans

on the planning = Production

2° No Kanban on the
planning = Stop the production
PROCEDURE

Example for illustration :

Planning
Kanban

2
3

1 machine 5 o o o o o o
machine
2 3
4

6
 Determine the priority
Suppose that a machine
manufactures 3 types of parts :

- Reference A : 8 kanbans in
circulation
- Reference B : 5 kanbans in
circulation
- Reference C : 3 kanbans in
circulation

The planning of kanbans is the

following:

Question to the operator:

What part should be manufactured first ?
 Determine the number of Kanbans
Empirical Method
Determine the number empirically, step by step, by putting a lot of kanbans at
the beginning then diminishing the number little by little until the flow breaks

Method of calculation

D : the average demand of parts per unit of time (the hour, day, month,...)
L : lead time (delay) to produce one container of parts (which is function of the
production cadence of considered machine )
C : the capacity of a container
G : management factors (representing various possible hazards and risks,
<10% of DxL)

The number of kanbans : n = (DxL+ G)/C

Example
D = 500 parts/h; L = 30 min; C = 50 parts ; G = 20 parts
n = (500x0,5+20)/50
= 6 kanbans
Case study

Enterprise REDIX
The products
The products (R1-R6) have all the same structure:

Réducteur Reduction gear

Gear Engrenage Carter Couronne Rim

Casing
Spare parts
Couronne
phase A sale

Engrenage Carter Couronne

raw
raw material raw material
material
Enterprise REDIX
Production Cadence
Cartes KANBAN
Incidents
REDIX System