‖ kanban, n. Comm.
(ˈkænbæn)
[Jap. kanban, kamban sign, poster.]
1. In Japanese industry: a card or sheet displaying a set of manufacturing specifications and requirements which is circulated to suppliers and sent along a production line to regulate the supply of components.
| 1977 Internat. Jrnl. Production Res. XV. 561 When content of a container begins to be used, conveyance Kanban is removed from the container. A worker takes this conveyance Kanban and goes to the stock point of the preceding process to pick up this part. He then attaches this conveyance Kanban to the container holding this part. 1981 Industrial Engin. May 29/2 A withdrawal Kanban specifies the kind and quality of product which the subsequent process should withdraw from the preceding process. 1983 Riggs & Felix Productivity by Objectives vii. 135 A Kanban is actually a small card on which directions are given to produce or deliver a certain item. A Kanban is thus a tool that triggers production or delivery of necessary products in the appropriate quantities at the precise time. The simplicity of Kanban is refreshing—no elaborate computer programs or multisheet ordering forms. |
2. Usu. attrib., esp. as kanban system. The coordinated manufacturing system employing kanbans, which ensures that components arrive from suppliers at the time they are required for assembly, thus minimizing factory storage and surplus. Cf. *just-in-time adj. phr. and n. phr.
| 1977 Internat. Jrnl. Production Res. XV. 559 A production control system for just-in-time production and making full use of workers' capabilities is the Kanban System. 1982 Sci. Amer. Oct. j12 (Advt.), Much of the increased efficiency is credited to the Kanban system of ‘just-in-time’ production and inventory delivery. 1984 Fortune 2 Apr. 54/1 Taiichi Ohno, a Toyota vice president,..named the system kanban, after the cards that production workers find in their parts bin and use to call for a fresh supply. 1986 New Yorker 10 Nov. 58/3 It also allows the company to maintain almost no inventory, and to produce mainly to order, in a European version of the Japanese kanban system. 1989 Accountancy May 153/1 In its machine shops Cummins makes use of Japanese kanban techniques to help workers decide when to manufacture more of a component. |