Why so much confusion about kanban?
–> I had a very interesting conversation recently with a friend who is a manager spearheading a lean effort at a local factory. His latest focus is on connecting the metalforming operations with the assembly operations using kanban. He observed that although there is a great need for kanban, there is so much confusion about kanban in the United States. Here is a short list of what kanban is not: • A taped, painted or otherwise marked storage location. • Two-bin systems. • Carts loaded with a specific number of parts and placed in a specific area. • Anything abbreviated in-process kanban (IPK). • A faxed work order or purchase order. • Other methods for information transmission that end in ban. • Just about any execution method promised by an ERP system. In the broad definition, the world calls nearly anything “kanban” that acts more like a pull than a push. If the result of kanban-like is less overproduction and more pull than push in this world, it may be OK. Then again, this leaves
