Kanban – 5S Today

Mass Production & Lean: What’s the difference?

September 6, 2021June 17, 2019 by Jesse Allred

Mass production is not considered to be a Lean production method. At the height of its innovation however, it did effectively lower the unit cost of many goods and improved the efficiency of facilities. In the spirit of Lean and continuous improvement, it’s important to keep finding ways to improve the organization and over time, it was clear a better solution may exist. What is mass production? Since Henry Ford’s assembly line, mass production has …

Foundational Concepts of Lean

September 6, 2021June 7, 2019 by Jesse Allred

Lean manufacturing utilizes a number of strategies and tools to improve the business by boosting productivity and eliminating waste. The following are just a handful of the most common Lean tools, many have been adopted from manufacturing in Japan and the Toyota Production System . 5S (The Visual Workplace) 5S is a system of creating workplace organization to reduce/eliminate waste created by clutter, lack of information, duplication, underutilized space, inconsistency in processes, etc. Components of …

Using Kanban to Reduce Waste and Inventory

September 6, 2021January 9, 2019 by Jesse Allred

Utilizing the kanban system in your manufacturing facility can greatly reduce wastes, eventually adding value for the end customer. Kanban is commonly used in Lean manufacturing settings and JIT manufacturing settings, A kanban system utilizes visual cues to trigger specific actions, effectively cultivating a pull production system. What’s the difference between a pull system and a push system? Pull systems and push systems are two opposite approaches to production and supply chain management. Pull systems, …

What is Kanban?

September 6, 2021August 19, 2013 by Tony Ferraro

Kanban is a process management technique which can be used for a wide range of different things. It was developed using the Toyota “just-in-time” system, but it isn’t restricted to just manufacturing scenarios. In its simplest form, Kanban can be seen as a production system where new requests come in at one end and completed products come out the other. In the middle is where all the production steps are taken. The brilliance of the system is that …

Kanban Systems

September 6, 2021April 17, 2013 by Tony Ferraro

Kanban systems are an important scheduling system used in ‘just-in-time’ production facilities. The word Kanban actually means signboard or billboard, and with these systems each part or product is only supplied as it is needed. This critical part of the just in time method of manufacturing helps to eliminate waste in a variety of ways which is then intended to help improve the value given to customers, and in turn increase profits. How Kanban Works …