Kanban in Japanese means a card, document, or a visible sign or record. In the past, the Japanese used this term to refer to a shop sign. Colorful and artistically crafted, it contained information about products sold in the store or services provided.
Modern kanban cards (signs) precisely state what and in what quantity is to be delivered to the customer on time. They create a visual system for controlling the flow of products or services (the KANBAN system), which disciplines the loose control of their flow by strictly connecting the executor (supplier) with the recipient, ensuring full customer satisfaction while increasing the supplier’s operational efficiency (e.g., reducing inventory).
The Swedish-Swiss concern ABB (Asea Brown Boveri), with over a century of tradition in the production of electrical equipment, took control of the switchgear manufacturing plants known as ZWAR SA in 1998 as a strategic investor. This initiated a process of changes in the organization and management of the company’s operations. Their goal is currently to increase competitiveness and improve production profitability. Great emphasis is placed on organizing a logistics system that would ensure short customer order lead times, low inventory levels, efficient information flow, and maximum production flexibility, while being simple to operate and inexpensive to implement. It was decided that the most appropriate system would be the KANBAN system, consistent with the Just in Time philosophy, designed specifically for the plant and adapted to the current conditions of its environment. The system design presented in this article is a pilot project, developed and implemented for one selected production line of LOVOS low-voltage surge arresters, intended for protecting low-voltage AC networks against lightning and switching surges. They are used to protect overhead low-voltage lines, building power supply systems, distribution transformers, and other systems. The production line is relatively uncomplicated and was recently moved to the factory in Przasnysz from another location. The production process of this type of low-voltage surge arrester is illustrated in Fig. 1.
Assumptions
Data regarding unit times for individual operations and forecasted sales volumes for specific product types were used to develop the project. It was also taken into account that the bottleneck of the process could be (in the case of very large orders) the manufacturing of the insulating housing. Some types of products, due to specific features and low demand, are manufactured upon individual customer order. The components from which they are assembled are not stocked but are brought in for a specific order. This results in a longer customer order lead time, but it is more beneficial for the company.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2002/6.