13 May KANBAN: what is it, what is for and how does it apply?
Few weeks ago we talked about Lean Manufacturing and today we are going to discuss about kanban, one of its tools, which is used to increase productive efficiency determining what, how much and when to produce, based on the actual demand in relation to a planned demand.
Kanban is also an element of the Just in Time technique, which allows working with the pull logic based on the abolition of intermediate stocks and helps to reduce production costs and the continuous improvement.
This allows reducing the worst elements from the point of view of lean logic: uselessness and waste. Waste of what?
DiCOmo’s partners realized that overproduction, shipment of goods that are not immediately used, unnecessary workers movements, storage space that could be used in different way, raw material that could be stored for a long time and could decay or could be no more suitable for production, are the wastes that can be avoided.
DiCOmo’s partners found a way, through careful internal analyses, together with the will to adapt to the changes, to adopt kanban that results in numerous advantages such as:
- Elimination of overproduction
- Increased flexibility in responding to customer demand
- Simplification of the production information system
- Greater integration in the process chain from suppliers to customers
With the valuable help of DiCOmo’s experts, partners have been able to meet the following requirements for kanban’s correct application:
- Training to operators and management on the use of the technique and its rules;
- Reliable suppliers and lead time: here the experience and DiCOmo’s network had a remarkable impact;
- Replicable processes: monitoring the efficiency of equipment and machines with the help of 5S (SEIRI – sort; SEITON – straighten; SEISO – shine; SEIKETSU – standardize; SHITSUKE – sustain);
- Low variation of product, that allows a better warehouse management of the kanban necessary supplies, according to the principles of Just in time;
- Regular, continuous and uniform orders that simplify the efficiency of the kanban, through production levelling and here DiCOmo’s team entered the game, requiring customers both better order management and forecasting in order to organize the purchase of the necessary raw materials
It is therefore an “easy-to-understand and implement” system (at least in its simplest versions) that is attractive for both managers and teams and makes management changes less laborious. This method is also very flexible and versatile because of its very nature and, therefore, can be easily adapted to the specific characteristics of a company or to processes already in use.
To sum up, we know that perfection is not reachable but if we pursue it, with the help of tools that help us in business management, we can catch excellence!