Just-in-Time and Kanban

Chapter 11

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban

• ‘The next process is the

customer.’
Kaoru Ishikawa

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban
• A JIT system means that incoming goods
arrive, proceed directly to equipment for
processing, become work-in-process, and
through value-added activities become
finished goods just-in-time for the
customer to pick up.

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban
• Just-in-time requires three basic
components:
• A Pull system
• Continuous flow processing
• Adherence to Takt times

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban
• Pull systems
– Pull systems are manufacturing systems that
require that products to be produced only
when needed by a customer.

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban
• Continuous flow processing
– Continuous flow processing focuses on one-
piece-at-a-time production.
– Stagnation of work-in-process inventory in
and between processes must be eliminated.

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban
• Takt time
– the rate a process must produce an item in order
to meet customer demand.
– Takt time is defined as:
Available working time per day
• Takt time = --------------------------------------------
Customer demand rate per day

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban
• Seven sources of waste were identified by Taiichi
Ohno, also of Toyota Motor Company:
– Waste from overproduction
– waste from inventory
– waste in unnecessary transportation
– waste from producing defects
– waste in processes
– waste in waiting time
– waste in motions.
• Some people have modified this list to include
intellect waste.

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban
• Kanban
– display card in Japanese
– a sign, card, or label, that communicates what
is needed and when.

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban
• Kanban (Pull Inventory Management)
– Kanban improves process management by
focusing on visual control of the process.
– Kanban cards tell the worker what must be
produced as well as what has been produced.
– Workers can not do more than the Kanban
cards tell them to.

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban
• Jidoka
– the Japanese word for autonomation.
– Jidoka is one of the two main pillars of the
Toyota Production system.
– When a Jidoka system is present, machines
and equipment are designed to stop
automatically when a problem is detected.
Any operator on the line also has the power to
stop production.

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.
 Just-in-Time and Kanban
• Jidoka
– Jidoka systems alert the worker to when a
defective item is produced or a machine
malfunction has occurred .
• This allows the problem to be dealt with
immediately, preventing the production and
passing of defects.
• Problems and the defects they cause can be more
quickly localized, isolated, and corrected

Lean Six Sigma: Process Improvement Tools and Techniques © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
Donna C. Summers Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.