Implementation of a Pull System – A Case Study of a Polymeric Production System for the Automotive Industry

This work, developed as a case study, propose, describe, and evaluates an implementation of a pull system in a SME company producing polymeric components for the automotive industry. The production system of the company was based on the push paradigm, which creates high stock levels and high lead times. The main purpose was to develop a pull production system controlled by Kanbans in the painting line. To achieve this goal, this case study demonstrates the application of relevant lean tools, such as, VSM, SMED, Kanban System, Supermarkets and Leveling. Through the SMED’s application, it was possible to reduce the setup times in 38% and make annual earnings of approximately 83000€. The application of a Kanban System, Leveling and Supermarket enabled the WIP’s reduction between injection and painting in 56% and, also, between painting and expedition in 45%. Also, the lead time decreased and the value-added time increased. Thus, this is an exemplary case study for the implementation of a pull system and can be used both by practitioners and researchers interested in this theme.

Reduction of Wastes and Costs Through the Modified Kanban System in Unit Storerooms of HGH: A Value-for-Money Quality Improvement Initiative

Most public health sectors in many countries were heavily burdened both financially and operationally as a result of the pandemic's new changes. Organizations have been pushed to develop innovative solutions to balance expenses and revenues through value-for-money initiatives as a result of erratic economic conditions.Purchasing and supply distribution to the point of care account for approximately 30–40% of the hospital's operating budget. The demand-based ordering system, also known as the par system, has inherently resulted in increased waste due to obvious estimations for the quantity of items. Increased waste and costs have become a widespread issue in the healthcare supply chain, which was identified as a priority for improvement.The project is aimed to reduce the costs by 50% by implementing the Kanban system in the unit storeroom of medical units within three months. The IHI Model of Improvement was undertaken to go through the implementation of the project. Several quality improvement tools were used to test different ideas of change and measurement of improvements were also made.Following the adoption of the modified Kanban System, the costs of consumable item supply decreased by 69% from 16,000 QAR to 5,000 QAR. The percentage of wastes has reduced significantly to 0% while limiting the percentage of out stocking to a median of 1%.Kanban as a lean method, reduces wastes by controlling the flow of consumables within a supply chain. Eliminating or reducing waste is a cornerstone of lean management. The project’s new evidence demonstrated significant and sustainable cost saving strategy by reducing waste and pre-quantifying items based on their usage and flow. The Kanban system ultimately improved nurses’ productivity, streamlined the unit’s stock supply, promoted value improvement, and helped increased end-user satisfaction.

Reduction of Wastes and Costs Through the Modified Kanban System in Unit Storerooms of HGH: A Value-for-Money Quality Improvement Initiative

Most public health sectors in many countries were heavily burdened both financially and operationally as a result of the pandemic's new changes. Organizations have been pushed to develop innovative solutions to balance expenses and revenues through value-for-money initiatives as a result of erratic economic conditions. Purchasing and supply distribution to the point of care account for approximately 30–40% of the hospital's operating budget. The demand-based ordering system, also known as the par system, has inherently resulted in increased waste due to obvious estimations for the quantity of items. Increased waste and costs have become a widespread issue in the healthcare supply chain, which was identified as a priority for improvement. The project is aimed to reduce the costs by 50% by implementing the Kanban system in the unit storeroom of medical units within three months. The IHI Model of Improvement was undertaken to go through the implementation of the project. Several quality improvement tools were used to test different ideas of change and measurement of improvements were also made. Following the adoption of the modified Kanban System, the costs of consumable item supply decreased by 69% from 16,000 QAR to 5,000 QAR. The percentage of wastes has reduced significantly to 0% while limiting the percentage of out stocking to a median of 1%. Kanban as a lean method, reduces wastes by controlling the flow of consumables within a supply chain. Eliminating or reducing waste is a cornerstone of lean management. The project’s new evidence demonstrated significant and sustainable cost saving strategy by reducing waste and pre-quantifying items based on their usage and flow. The Kanban system ultimately improved nurses’ productivity, streamlined the unit’s stock supply, promoted value improvement, and helped increased end-user satisfaction.

Utilizing of the Trello API Within the Development of a Monitoring Information System Recording of Project Activities Using a Website-Based Kanban System (Case Study : Electrical Project of PT. XYZ)

One of the units of the company which is engaged in electricity handles many electrical large projects. The current condition of recording project activities that is still done manually and is not centralized has become difficulties in searching for data when needed. Job targets that also cannot be monitored create difficulties in management. Therefore, an effective and efficient monitoring information system for recording project activities is required so as to facilitate the management of monitoring data projects and data retrieval. The system development process using the prototyping method is implemented on a website basis by utilizing the Kanban system in managing work items. The Trello API is used to retrieve project data along with the use of the Kanban system in Trello to maintain data security which can only be managed by the project manager. System development is carried out through the stages of problem identification, literature study, needs analysis, design with Unified Modeling Language, and implementation using Laravel as a framework. Functional testing of the system with Blackbox testing gets 100% indicating the system is in accordance with the requirements specifications. Usability testing using the System Usability Scale gets a value of 84 in the acceptable system category. Responsive testing is conducted with the results of the interface meets various screen sizes and orientations. The compatibility testing implementation shows the system works well with various browsers.

Status Estimation and In-Process Connection of Kanbans Using BLE Beacons and LPWA Network to Implement Intra-Traceability for the Kanban System

IoT-based measurement systems for manufacturing have been widely implemented. As components that can be implemented at low cost, BLE beacons have been used in several systems developed in previous research. In this work, we focus on the Kanban system, which is a measure used in manufacturing strategy. The Kanban system emphasizes inventory management and is used to produce only required amounts. In the Kanban system, the Kanban cards are rotated through the factory along with the products, and when the products change to a different process route, the Kanban card is removed from the products and the products are assigned to another Kanban. For this reason, a single Kanban cannot trace products from plan to completion. In this work, we propose a system that uses a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon to connect Kanbans in different routes but assigned to the same products. The proposed method estimates the beacon status of whether the Kanban is inside or outside a postbox, which can then be computed by a micro controller at low computational cost. In addition, the system connects the Kanbans using the beacons as paired connection targets. In an experiment, we confirmed that the system connected 70% of the beacons accurately. We also confirmed that the system could connect the Kanbans at a small implementation cost.

ABC/XYZ Analysis for Kanban System Implementation in Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

The purpose of this study is to show how the implementation of the Kanban system based on ABC/XYZ analysis helps in improving the inventory management system in the supply chain where there is a lack of proper inventory management. Ethiopian pharmaceutical supply agency's distribution network is taken as a case to show the significance of the Kanban system. Monthly data for one year is collected and is accompanied by primary data obtained from direct observation and discussion with the company's management staff. ABC, XYZ, and ABC/XYZ matrix analyses were performed to determine items to be considered in Kanban implementation. By analysis, it is shown that the Kanban system can improve inventory-related costs by about 75%. While the Kanban system is rarely implemented in the pharmaceutical sector so far, it is understood in this study that it can bring improvements in the sector if properly implemented. Though it is shown by analyzing data on how the Kanban system can improve inventory-related costs, it is imperative to practically implement it for validation of its effectiveness.

Kanban in Apparel Manufacturing: A Case Study

Pull system and Kanban are effective lean manufacturing tools. Though many companies in various manufacturing fields have successfully implemented pull manufacturing using Kanban systems, such studies in apparel manufacturing are rarely found. Kanban system was implemented in an apparel manufacturing company, which had implemented some of the lean manufacturing tools. The apparel manufacturing line was identified in four different sub sections and separate Kanbans were used in each sub section. The system was evaluated using two parameters: the number of Kanban cards in each point; the production output. Correct number of Kanban cards were found at all the time of the monitoring period of two weeks-the production efficiency has increased by 22%.

System dynamics modelling of fixed and dynamic Kanban controlled production systems: a supply chain perspective

Purpose Pull production systems have received much attention in the supply chain management environment. The number of Kanbans is a key decision variable in the pull production system as it affects the finished goods inventory (FGI) and backorders of the system. The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of the fixed and dynamic Kanban systems in terms of operational metrics (FGI and backorders) under the demand uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the system dynamics (SD) approach was used to model the performance of fixed and dynamic Kanban based production systems. SD approach has enabled the feedback mechanism and is an appropriate tool to incorporate the dynamic control during the simulation. Initially, a simple Kanban based production system was developed and then compared the performance of production systems with fixed and dynamic controlled Kanbans at the various demand scenarios. Findings From the present study, it is observed that the dynamic Kanban system has advantages over the fixed Kanban system and also observed that the variation in the backorders with respect to the demand uncertainty under the dynamic Kanban system is negligible. Research limitations/implications In a just-in-time production system, the number of Kanbans is a key decision variable. The number of Kanbans is mainly depended on the demand, cycle time, safety stock factor (SSF) and container size. However, this study considered only demand uncertainty to compare the fixed and dynamic Kanban systems. This paper further recommends researchers to consider other control variables which may influence the number of Kanbans such as cycle time, SSF and container size. Originality/value This study will be useful to decision-makers and production managers in the selection of the Kanban systems in uncertain demand applications.