Topics: Pull Scheduling

Kanban: Cut the Cards

A Kanban system is a cornerstone of just-in-time manufacturing and provides for the orderly and efficient flow of materials in a high volume, highly repetitive environment.

But, what happens though when environments are highly variable in demand and product mixes? With thousands of products, requiring millions of parts moving through work centers that are constantly changing, Kanban can quickly come undone in a hail of cards and confusion.

Beyond a Traditional Kanban System

Given all of the problems associated with implementing a Kanban system in complex, asset-intensive environments, practitioners have developed alternative means of pull scheduling that account for high variability. While the techniques go by a variety of names, such as Generic Kanban, CONWIP, Drum Buffer Rope or POLKA, they all share common concepts such as cards representing a flow path or a generic family of parts. However they are implemented, the result is typically the same-reductions in inventory while protecting throughput from sources of variability.

Flow Manufacturing Takes Advantage of All Pull Methods

Utilizing flow manufacturing, companies are able to implement pull scheduling within flow paths to utilize the techniques that work best for varying conditions in the business. For example, high volume flow paths might work best with a traditional Kanban system while low volume paths may want to take advantage of Generic Kanban or the CONWIP approach.

While this system is usually simple enough to be done manually, the complexities of implementing pull scheduling in highly complex are usually most effectively managed with a demand-based methodology and manufacturing software such as the MachSix solutions provided by Invistics.

To learn more about how Pull Scheduling fits into an overall strategy of implementing Lean Manufacturing in complex, asset-intensive environments, download our whitepaper "Processing Lean: Modifying Traditional Techniques for Complex Environments".