The Principles and Planning Process of an Electronic Kanban System

The ideas of pull production managed by kanban-cards are well documented in the literature and are in practice worldwide. However, the electronic kanban systems that are utilized for example in the vehicle industry have not been studied to the same extent. The advance of ICT technologies like RFID technology presents us with the opportunity to develop more advanced ICT supported electronic kanban solutions. This study defines the factors influencing the success of electronic kanban systems and describes how they should be taken into account in the planning process. First the differences of traditional kanban and electronic kanbans are analyzed from a theoretical point of view. Second the factors influencing the success of electronic Kanban design are defined from the point of view of pull production philosophy and user-centered design theory. The electronic kanban system planning principles and ideas defined are analyzed and described in more detail in the practical case context. The case study presented describes the electronic kanban systems basic ideas, the planning process and problems found. In addition, the user centered design (UCD) process utilized and its influence on the outcome are described more closely. The study suggests that the understanding of original pull planning philosophy is important. These ideas include, for example, production smoothing, support of continuous improvement (kaizen), tight operation synchronization, material flow, problem solving and visual management principles. The shop floor practices refined in leading companies utilizing the pull production system have to taken into account while planning the practical ICT applications. The UCD process is important, since the original ideas have to be infused in shop floor information and material flow control systems where the human-computer system interaction takes place.