How it works
Kanban replaces the conventional order management with consumption management by forming an interconnected self managing control loop from the two series processes. The control loop comprises of a consuming process; the customer, and an upstream production process; the supplier.
The Kanban card is the ordering document that interconnects the two processes. Once the consuming process receives the order, it removes the appropriate product part from the buffer inventory. The resulting loss in the buffer inventory is then rectified by the production process: the production order is indicated on Kanban cards attached to the product parts.
When a product part is removed from the buffer inventory, the pertinent production order card is then delivered to the supplier. The production order cards circulate in a control loop, and this process is called “Card Kanban“.