Question

Please answer broadly:

1. If you reduce the number of Kanbans, the number of WIP in production system will be reduced accordingly. If you reduce the number of Kanbans excessively what are the possible consequences?

2. What are the typical approaches to shorten the production lead time?

3. What are the potential benefits of production smoothing for auto-makers and their suppliers ?

Answer 1

1) The idea in a Kanban approach is to reduce waiting time and WIP in the system as it does not add value to the customer and represents a waste of resources. To some extent this could be achieved by reducing the number of Kanbans, however excessive reduction will imply that the system becomes closer to a monolithin structure (i.e. one without Kanbans) and the core advantage of a Kanban system with multiple lines operating in parallel is lost. This will actually reduce the overall efficiency of the system even though WIP is minimized.

2) Production lead time may be reduced in several ways, some of which may de bescribed below

• Reducing number of processes in the overall supply chain. Re look at all the processes and see what can be done away with by suitable modifications
• Adding capacity (labour and machinery)
• Better scheduling of processes through better understanding of material and process flow
• Efficient integration of supplier systems with own supply chain systems
• Better and faster logistics and logistics management

3) Production smoothing refers to the reduction in variability of quantities being produced by understanding demand better and using more robust statistical techniques to forecast demand. As a result it is possible to meet variable and unpredicatable demand with known and nearly constant production schedules. This will in turn reduce cost of production and also streamline operations from a system and people's perspectives. Too much variability in resources consumed for production adds to both cost and complexity of management.