MM 38 Kanban

In the 1940s, Toyota saw itself inferior to the American automobile industry in terms of productivity. A major problem was the inefficient storage of production materials. Plans had been made long in advance regarding which materials would be available when and where, even though surpluses often remained due to fluctuating demand, for example. The space used for storage and transport routes thus became very costly. In 1947, however, Taiichi Ōno came up with the idea of ​​applying the supermarket principle to production, meaning simply replenishing materials when needed again.

Kanban operates according to the pull principle, meaning production is oriented toward customer demand. Unlike the push principle, instead of bringing a specific number of products to market, a minimum inventory is established and then manufactured again only when demand arises. Instead of a detailed plan, a situational information system is used that is transparent, accessible, and must be implemented quickly. Sharing information on cards has proven effective for this purpose.

The system is self-explanatory: The "Next" tab lists the tasks that need to be completed as soon as possible, sorted by priority. Once a task is accepted, it moves to "Present" so others can see that it's already being worked on. Finally, "Recent" shows the history of recently completed tasks.

In the past, or rarely today, whiteboards, cabinets, or drawers were used for this purpose, in which task cards were shuffled around. Digital systems, such as those offered by Asana, have become more common. It's usually sufficient to simply check off a box in the software with your user profile so that employees know who's doing what and can estimate when they can continue working on it.

Management consultant David J. Anderson also formulated six core practices for Kanban:

1.Visualize the workflow

2. Avoid incomplete tasks

3. Create explicit rules for the process

4.Control the work process

5.Introduce feedback loops

6. Improve collaboratively, develop experimentally

In the context of:

Q: Q01, Q08, Q14, Q15

E: E17

T: T01, T03, T07, T10, T18