Guidelines for the Selection of FIFO Lanes and Supermarkets for Kanban-Based Pull Systems - When to Use a FIFO and When to Use a Supermarket

Modern lean production systems most often use a pull-based production control, usually implemented as kanban or CONWIP. The material flow in pull systems is managed using both FIFO lanes and supermarkets as inventories, which are well described in academic literature. However, there is so far little guidance as for when to use a supermarket and when to use a FIFO lane. This paper aims to provide an exhaustive list of considerations regarding the selection of a supermarket or FIFO lane between processes. While the detailed decisions depend on the particularities of the system, a number of general recommendations and considerations can be made. To the best knowledge of the authors, no such effort has been undertaken before, and we believe that this summary of considerations is long overdue and of immense value for the practitioner.