KANBAN
Set up a first kanban loop between an internal supplier workstation and an internal customer workstation: choose the loop, calculate the number of cards, build the production board, set the rules and spot the drifts that kill a kanban within a few weeks.
This course is intended for team leaders, shop floor managers, methods technicians and continuous improvement facilitators who currently supply their workstations "by feel" or by production order, and who experience both shortages and excessively high work-in-progress inventories. The kanban is a card that travels with a container of parts to the customer workstation and returns to the supplier workstation when the container is empty: it is the return of the card, and nothing else, that authorises production. By the end of the course, you will know how to choose a first kanban loop between two internal workstations, calculate the number of cards to put into circulation based on daily demand and loop time, draw a three-zone production board, write the operating rules in five lines, and check every week that the loop is not drifting. No investment is required: laminated cards, a magnetic board and rigour are enough.
What you will be able to do
- Explain in one sentence the difference between push flow and pull flow, and say why the production kanban mechanically limits work-in-progress.
- Choose a relevant first kanban loop (internal supplier, internal customer, part number with regular consumption) and rule out poor candidates.
- Calculate the number of kanbans in a loop using the formula N = D × d × (1 + K) / C on a worked example, and know which parameter to adjust when the result is not suitable.
- Build a production board with green, orange and red zones and read the production priority without outside help.
- Write the operating rules of the loop and design a kanban card that is legible and durable.
- Set up a weekly card check (counting, lost cards, cards added without a decision) and adjust the loop when demand changes on a lasting basis.
The path
- Stop pushing: what a kanban loop changes 4 min
- Choosing the first loop and reading customer demand 4 min
- Calculating the number of kanbans and the container size 5 min
- Building the production board and setting the rules 5 min
- Keeping the loop alive: lost cards, drift and adjustments 4 min
Prerequisites
No Lean prerequisites. Know a supplier workstation and a customer workstation in your shop, know how many parts the customer consumes in a normal day, and have access to consumption data for the last three months (records, stock withdrawals or ERP).
The closing quiz
The topic ends with a 8-question quiz, and a certificate is issued on success.