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Abstract
Kanban technique has been used in the U.S. for more than 20 years. Many mathematical models describing kanban operation have been developed and many software for production simulation are available. But, to deliver the full lean concepts to manufacturers is still a challenge. It is very difficult to develop a generalized mathematical model of the kanban system incorporating all its salient features. The objective of this paper is to present a lean manufacturing simulation kit developed recently. With the kit, manufacturers can easily understand kanban principle and its applications. The lean manufacturing theory behind kanban has been visually revealed.
Keyword: Kanban, simulation, WIP, lean manufacturing, and batch size.
1. Introduction
Lean manufacturing is a practice that reduces waste in a manufacturing system, which was developed by the Toyota Corporation after WWII. Taiichi Ohno made this philosophy clear in his book Toyota Production System (1988). The most important objective of lean manufacturing is to increase production efficiency by eliminating waste, solving problem, and continuously improving. Waste is anything that adds cost, but not value, to a product. The tools of lean manufacturing include: Value Stream Mapping, Standardized Work, Load Leveling, Kaizen, Kanban, Visual Control, 5S, Error Proofing (Poka-Yoke), and Problem-Solving. They are all feasible and beneficial for small and medium-sized companies [1][2].
Lean manufacturing has been used in the U.S. for more than 20 years. Unfortunately, it is not popular in small and medium-sized companies. Small and medium-sized companies traditionally use the materials requirement planning (MRP) system to guide their production. They often do not adopt lean tools in their companies because they think the lean concepts are against their management culture or they think the lean ideas are nothing but another manufacturing method [3]. Why must the familiar, tried-and-true processes be put aside in order to start a new, uncertain one? The main problem is that small companies lack training and materials to learn and educate their employees about lean concepts and lean tool applications. It is an urgent task for manufacturing researchers to introduce lean manufacturing concepts and to provide practical training methods to the small and medium-sized companies.
The objective of this study was to introduce a kanban simulation kit developed recently. The simulation kit is a "Multi-product assembly line controlled...