Industrial Engineering: April 2023

What is Kanban?

Kanban is one of the LEAN tool.
Kanban is a Japanese word made of Kan and Ban where Kan means visual, and ban means boards or cards.
It is synonymous to "PULL" system.
A kind of planning tool which is Demand Driven and used for Demand Scheduling.
Scheduling system used in manufacturing to help companies improve their production process.
Board represents the state of the product at any point.

What is Kanban in Apparel?

Kanban concept is a process which ensures a regulated supply of required material based on pull concept.
In Apparel it is used as a system in which supply of components is regulated using an instruction card sent along the production line.
This works on regulated fixed quantity supply based on the demand from the production.
Physical Kanban board helps to visualize the WIP in the sewing line.
Based on this WIP and productivity the demand scheduling can be done.

The Principles of Kanban

IMPLEMENTING THE KANBAN

Collect the data
Calculate the Kanban Size
Design the Kanban
Train everyone
Start the Kanban
Audit the Kanban
Improve the Kanban

The Principles of Kanban

1. Make work visible (visual management)

Visual management is the display of information in the workplace to inform teams, enforce work standards, and highlight or prevent problems. There are many ways to use visual management, and this concept is deeply embedded in Lean thinking.

2. Limit work In-Progress (WIP)

Limiting WIP ensures that at any point in time there is never too much or too little work to do. You want to have just the right amount of cards on a Kanban board that can be handled by resources available.

This is achieved by implementing a pull system where new work is only ‘pulled’ in when there is enough capacity to handle it. For this to work, limits to WIP need to be set and adjusted. For example, to have a team of 20 engineers and operators build 10 cars a week.

3. Manage the flow of work

Flow refers to the movement of work items across stages of a process, as represented by cards on a Kanban board.

The responsibility lies with the project manager (or whoever is given ownership of the process). He/she needs to keep the workflow moving fast while keeping an eye on blocks, bottlenecks, and risks.

4. Make policies explicit

By having an explicit understanding of issues, operations, and rules, discussions become more rational and objective. These need to be documented and shared across the project team. The intention is to prevent emotion and subjective views from seeping into the decision process.

5. Implement feedback loops

Feedback and continuous improvements are critical for Kanban as they are for other agile frameworks. In Kanban feedback is gathered at different stages of a project: during meetings or at delivery, operational and risk reviews.

The frequency and format of feedback depend on what has been already established by the Project Office. Any gaps are filled as Kanban identifies them.

6. Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally

In Kanban, collaboration and experimentation go hand in hand as long as there is clarity and consensus on how to approach work and issues.