Kanban Made Simple: Demystifying and Applying Toyota's Legendary Manufacturing Process
Using Toyota as an example, this is a step-by-step guide to incorporating the ingenuity of the kanban system into any manufacturing environment.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Kanban Made Simple: Demystifying and Applying Toyota's Legendary Manufacturing Process
Chapter 1: Introduction to Kanban
Imagine a process where the operators schedule the line. Also, imagine this same process having visual indicators that allow you to instantly determine the schedule status of the process at a glance.
Does this sound like a fairytale? Or is this a process that has been converted to kanban scheduling?
A Short History of Kanban
The Japanese word kanban, which translates as "signboard," has become synonymous with demand scheduling. [1] Kanban traces its roots to the early days of the Toyota production system. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Taiichi Onho developed kanbans to control production between processes and to implement Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing at Toyota manufacturing plants in Japan. These ideas did not gain worldwide acceptance until the global recession in the 1970s. By using kanbans, he minimized the work in process (or WIP) between processes and reduced the cost associated with holding inventory. [2]
Originally, Toyota used kanban to reduce costs and manage machine utilization. However, today Toyota continues to use the system not only to manage cost and flow, but also to identify impediments to flow and opportunities for continuous improvement. Interestingly, Mr. Onho modeled many of the control points after U.S. supermarkets hence the term kanban supermarkets.
It should be noted that the idea of JIT manufacturing was originally conceived by Kiichero Toyoda, founder of the Toyota Motor Company, and son of Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of the Toyota Company, the parent company. [3] [4] However, it was Mr. Onho who developed...
Copyright John M. Gross and Kenneth R. McInnis 2003 under license agreement with Books24x7
