Kanban concept

The Japanese developed the so-called Kanban concept as a way of lowering the water In the lake. Kanban originated In assembly-type operations but the principles can be extended across the supply chain and to all types of operations. The name Kanban comes from the Japanese for a type of card that was used in early systems to signal to the upstream supply point that a certain quantity of material could be released. 

The Toyota Motor Company of Japan pioneered the Kanban technique in the 1980s. As part of Lean Manufacturing concepts Kanban was promoted as one of the primary tools of JIT concepts by both Taiichi Ohno (1988) and Shingo (1988). Inspired by this technique, American supermarkets in particular replenished shelves as they were emptied and thus reduced the number of storage spaces and inventory levels. With a varied degree of success outside Japan, Kanban has been applied to maintain an orderly flow of goods, materials and information throughout the entire operation. 

Fourthly, a set of operational strategies that utilise the concepts of JIT, safety-stock/capacity. Kanban and VMI are presented in comparison with the case companies original strategy in various scenarios. This was achieved by developing a Matlab simulation tool. The tool enabled the impact of an information sharing mechanism on SCP to be quantified. 

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