"Implementing Successful Kanbans"
John Gross
Industrial Engineer
April 2005, pp. 37-39
The author of this article identifies a number of fears that keep organizations from implementing lean production instead of push systems:
- Fear of losing control
- Fear of lack of employee ability
- Fear of running out of material
- Fear of missed shipments
- Fear for job security
Ways to directly address these fears and successfully implement kanban systems are:
- Size the kanbans to current operational conditions-Consider production requirements, changeover time, downtime, and scrap
- Adapt container sizes to allow better kanban control
- Make kanban signals visual
- Develop rules that provide decision points plus checks and balances
- Train operators to run the kanban operations
- Set up audit plans to keep assumptions current and maintain system discipline
- Develop a phased improvement plan to reduce kanban quantities
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