Don’t let fear be a

barrier to improved
material handling

36 Industrial Engineer
Implementing successful
KANBANS By John Gross

One of the basic tenets of the Toyota Production achieve pull and minimize inventory.
System and lean philosophies is to pull value through the However,despite general agreement on the benefits of imple-
system. Pulling value means to produce only what is needed menting kanban scheduling and numerous success stories,
in response to downstream demand. This downstream many organizations have not embraced this method. Instead
demand can be either from external customer orders or from these organizations prefer to stay with their current push
downstream process customers. The pull philosophy elimi- systems — scheduling every step of the production process
nates the batch-and-queue mental- and allowing batches to build up
ity and facilitates the achievement KANBAN DEFINED along the value stream.
of single-piece flow. Unfortunately, Derived from the Japanese words kan (card) Why do they fail to embrace pull?
not all processes lend themselves to and ban (signal), a kanban is a communi- One of the prime factors is fear:They
achieving single-piece flow because cation tool for just-in-time production that fear change;they fear loss of control;
of the time required for changeover accompanies parts in the production line. they fear lack of employee ability;
from one part to another. For When the parts have all been used, the sign they fear running out of material;
processes that require changeover or bin is returned to its origin, where it they fear missed shipments;they fear
times greater than several takt cycles, becomes an order for more. for job security; they fear … .
kanban scheduling is necessary to — Kaizen Institute These fears are a roadblock to

April 2005 37
implementing successful kanbans
implementation. They become excuses to avoid implementa- Sizing the kanban to operational conditions means
tion rather than being recognized as barriers that need to considering the production requirements, changeover times,
be considered in the kanban’s design. Overcoming these fears downtime, and scrap to establish kanban quantities. These
is where leadership must come into play. Strong leadership factors combine to create a replenishment interval that lets you
gives production operators, first-line supervisors, and the assess the capability of your process to meet daily or weekly
organization in general the confidence to embrace kanban production quantities. When coupling realistic calculations
scheduling. with appropriately sized container and visual signals, you
The best way to overcome these fears and successfully provide sufficient buffers with signals that are easy to interpret.
implement kanbans is to develop plans that address them. Put While this recommendation may make it appear that you will
plans in place to prevent these fears from becoming reality not reduce work-in-process levels, it is realistic to expect the
so that your organization can reap the benefits of kanban calculations to show you need less WIP to operate properly.
scheduling. In fact, making a list of your issues should be the In fact, I have only seen one occasion in which the WIP quan-
starting point for an implementation action plan. tities were not reduced. In that case, the implementing plant
To get started on the road to addressing your fears, consider was space-constrained and was forced to manage the daily
these elements for successful implementation: production schedule aggressively to keep downstream processes
• Size the kanbans to current operational conditionals. supplied. The implementation of kanban scheduling simpli-
• Adapt container sizes to allow better kanban control. fied the scheduling process and reduced the amount of required
• Make kanban signals visual. schedule management effort.
• Develop rules that provide decision points plus checks The development of kanban operating rules provides the
and balances. process for letting operators control the production schedule.
• Train operators to run the kanban operators. The rules provide guidance on how the kanbans will operate
• Set up audit plans to keep assumptions current and main- and should explain the basic operating process, preferred
tain system discipline. flow, and decision-making system. Most important, the rules
• Develop a phased improvement should spell out what to do when
plan to reduce kanban quantities. A LEAN BEGINNING problems occur — who to go to and
These elements address some of Do you or a colleague need to brush up your what that person should do. The
the basic failure modes that are often lean management skills? Check out these basic guidance on developing kan-
encountered during implementa- upcoming events: ban operating rules is that if you
tion.By including these elements in • Lean Enterprise: An Introduction, May 15, want something to happen,then you
your plans,you anticipate problems Atlanta: This pre-conference seminar to the need to put it in the rules.
before they happen.These elements IIE Annual Conference is taught by Tom Training on the newly designed
allow you to start with realistic Greenwood and Eric Lockhart and is billed kanbans is one of the best invest-
quantities that reflect the ability of as the first step in learning the principles ments you can make in terms of suc-
your production operation to sup- of lean. The seminar is also offered at IIE cessfully implementing kanbans.
ply customers. Additionally, these headquarters and online throughout the Your training plans should include
elements prepare operators and year. Go to www.iieannual.org to register tailored training for each role and
managers to take control and set the for the pre-conference seminar, and visit should include everyone who will
stage for maintaining a successful www.iieseminars.org for details about lean touch the kanban. Don’t assume
implementation. Finally, by devel- and other IIE seminars. everyone will understand;make sure
oping a phased improvement plan, • Lean Management Solutions Conference, everyone understands.
you recognize that Rome was not Dec. 5-6, Orlando, Fla.: Moving the event The best way to ensure under-
built in a day and that you must be date to a colder month has done nothing standing is to dry run the process.
able to operate the kanban before to cool down this venue for the hottest in Ideally, this dry run should take
you can achieve dramatic reductions lean management techniques and tools. Go place at the kanban site and should
in inventory levels. to www.leanmanagement.org to register. include physically walking everyone

38 Industrial Engineer
 Kanban
success
Phased continuous
improvement
Visual kanban signals
Appropriate operating rules
Properly sized kanbans
Adapt container sizes
through the operations. Finally, as a wrap-up of the training,
quiz everyone on what happened during the dry run. Use the
dry run to get feedback on the kanban design and learn from
the suggestions and blank stares.
Once the kanban is started,then auditing is the next step.The
auditing process verifies that the kanban works as it was designed
to work. The audit addresses two kanban design topics:
• Are the calculated quantities correct and do they allow the
kanban to operate as planned?
• Is the kanban operating as planned?
Look upon audit findings as a way to strengthen the kanban
design. When something is found, don’t blame or complain.
Just fix it.
The last step is to make plans to improve (or reduce) the kan-
ban WIP levels in phases. The realistic expectation of phased
improvements goes hand-in-hand with developing realistic
initial quantities. Expecting to hit a home run by drastically
reducing WIP when these levels are unsupported by data can
be a recipe for disaster.In fact,most unsuccessful kanbans occur
because they arbitrarily jump to some new WIP level that is
unsupported by data. Unrealistic kanban sizes can drive the
production process crazy,forcing you to make changeovers that
you cannot afford timewise and put you further behind in an
ever deepening downward spiral.
Instead, strive for base hits. Set up realistic quantities and
Training
Auditing
The road to successful
kanban implementation is
paved with several critical
steps shown in this image,
but the key to success is
avoiding the roadblock
of fear.
make plans to manage the levels through continuous improve-
ment activities. Listed in order of effectiveness, reducing
changeover times,increasing uptime,and reducing scrap are the
three vehicles to reduce the kanban’s WIP quantities realistically.
Therefore,your continuous improvement plans should include
these activities if you want to reduce kanban quantities and not
impact your ability to service your customers.
Recognizing the fears that are associated with kanban
implementation will greatly increase your chance for success-
ful implementation. Use these fears to formulate plans that
allow you to address and overcome them. Don’t allow fears
to be a roadblock, but rather turn them into stepping stones to
your success. d
For further reading
Gross, John and Kenneth R. McInnis, Kanban Made Simple,
AMACOM Books, 2003
Womack, James P. and Daniel T. Jones, Lean Thinking, Second
Edition, Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, 2003
John Gross,P.E.,works as a lean manufacturing manager and a Six Sigma
master black belt for a tier-one automotive supplier. He is the author
of Fundamentals of Preventive Maintenance and the co-author
of Kanban Made Simple. Gross is a certified plant engineer and a
certified quality engineer.
April 2005 39