What Are The Benefits Of Kanban Controls?
Kanban controls provide some very large benefits. They put upper limits on the inventory, and thereby lead-time. Putting limits on inventory allows you to increase the physical spacing between products, and thereby dramatically reduce handling damage. And reduced lead-times provide a competitive edge in customer service; i.e. quicker delivery. Kanbans also put an upper limit on the number of potential defects. At a recent client mill, the day after discussing this concept, a defect was discovered that involved 1600 tons of coils. The defect was not detectable until processed on the next downstream operation. Prime product had to be downgraded to non-prime, at a $300/ton price penalty. Total cost: half a million dollars! Note: in less than three months, kanban limits had been put in place, and the maximum quality exposure was cut by 60%! Another often overlooked impact of kanbans on quality is in its’ impact on speed of discover of a defect. As any quality guru will tell you, the faster
