TABLE OF CONTENTS The key to the successful kanban system is the creation of a signal. This signal is notification that material must be replenished. This signal also requires that the replenishment occur in the stated replenishment time. Whether the signal comes in the form of an empty container, a card, or an empty space on the floor, the signal is a physical one. The replenishment signal is a tangible object and, therefore, difficult to ignore when received. The empty container or card simply says that material needs to be replenished. It is nonjudgmental. No interpretation of a computer-generated report is necessary. No further investigation is necessary. At the point of replenishment, no training of material handlers to research a stock-out condition is required. Material must simply be replenished in the quantity specified in the calculated replenishment time.
The use of physical signals introduces simplicity into material replenishment and handling systems. The critical issues of material replenishment have been predetermined in the calculation of the kanban. Individual interpretation on receipt of the physical signal by material handlers is not required. All that is required of the material handler is the execution of the quantity and replenishment time. Priority for refilling material containers is on a first-in first-out basis. Replenishment must simply occur in the stated replenishment time with the quantity designated.
Planning (MRP) systems are order-based systems. When the planning system completes the bill...
