KANBAN

Japanese expression for “signboard, card, receipt”. In the context of lean manufacturing, kanban is an information system and a method for production-process planning and material flow control to ensure the production of the required parts in the right amount and at the right time in all phases of the production. A key element is the kanban card that describes the part number and the amount of parts per packaging unit, among other information. The kanban method requires a levelling of customer demands, a calculated split of the production batches for each workstation, and buffer stocks (shop stocks) at the end of each production line. The approach is based solely on actual consumption. Within a plant, there are several kanban loops e.g. for production, incoming and outgoing.