Repetitive manufacturing

Is "the fabrication, machining, assembly and testing of discrete, standard units produced in
volume, or of products assembled in volume from standard options it is characterized by long
runs or flows of parts. The ideal is a direct transfer of parts from one work center to another.
One could argue that the end result of rigorously applying the JIT approach and of using JIT
manufacturing techniques is to move a manufacturing system away from job shop or batch
production to repetitive manufacturing.
Production Activity Control with Kanban
Under Kanban, only the final assembly line knows the requirements for the end product and,
with this knowledge, it controls what is produced in the total manufacturing system using the
following procedure:
The final assembly line, having received the schedule, proceeds to withdraw the components
necessary, at the times they are required and in the quantities they are required, from the feeding
work centers or subassembly lines. These work centers or subassembly lines produce in lots just
sufficient to replace the lots that have been removed. However, to do this, they also have to
withdraw parts from their respective feeder stations in the quantities necessary. Thus, a chain
reaction is initiated upstream, with work centers only withdrawing the components that are
required at the correct time and in the quantities required. In this way, the flow of all material is
synchronized to the rate at which material is used on the final assembly line. Amounts of
inventory will be very small if a regular pattern exists in the schedule and if the deliveries are
made in small quantities. Thus, Just in Time can be achieved without the use of controlling work
orders for parts at each work center.
The Kanban Card Types
Kanban is the Japanese word for card. Kanbans usually are rectangular paper cards placed in
transparent covers. There are two main types of card in use:
1

Withdrawal kanbans Withdrawal kanbans define the quantity that the subsequent
process should withdraw from the preceding work center. Each card circulates between
two work centers only - the user work center for the part in question and the work center
that produces it.
Production kanbans Production kanbans define the quantity of the specific part that the
producing work center should manufacture in order to replace those, which have been
removed.

Kanban Card Usage

For a Kanban system to operate effectively, very strict discipline is required. This discipline
relates to the usage of the kanban cards. This requirement for discipline also serves to illustrate
the need for well-documented manufacturing procedures and a well-trained group of operators
who are aware of the procedures and who are motivated tofollow them rigorously - a confidence

born of experience of good operator practice. There are five guidelines on the usage of the
kanbans, which help achieve JIT production:
1

A work center should withdraw only the items which it requires from the preceding work
center in the quantities required and, equally importantly, at the required time. There are a
number of operating principles which support this:
No removal of material is allowed without an available withdrawal kanban and an
available empty container.
A withdrawal of more parts than indicated on the withdrawal kanban is not allowed.

A work center or process should only produce those items, which have been removed by
the following work center or process.
The freed production kanbans act as a schedule
for the work center. The work center is not allowed to produce greater quantities than
stipulated on the production kanban and the sequence of operations in the work center or
process must follow the sequence in which the production kanbans were freed. As
production is initiated by the final assembly schedule released to the assembly line, the
schedule is passed back through the production system by the release of production
kanbans. Rigorously adhering to the above guidelines results in what is effectively an
invisible conveyor line, constructed and controlled by the flow of kanbans through the
production system.
Defective or substandard items should never be passed to a following work center. This
implies rigorous quality control at each work center or step in the production process.
Allowing defective parts to stay within the production system will greatly upset the flow
of parts at a later stage when the defective part is detected.
The level of inventories in the production system is dictated by the number of kanbans
since each kanban represents the contents of a standard container. The number of kanbans
should therefore be minimized. By reducing the number of kanbans and the size of each
container the level of inventories is progressively reduced.
The Kanban system is only suitable for dealing with relatively small fluctuations in the
demand pattern in the final assembly line. The system is only relevant to a repetitive
manufacturing situation and large changes in demand cannot be accommodated within it.

If is not possible to arrive at a stable master schedule for the end level items in the bill of
materials, the Kanban system cannot be used. Small fluctuations in the demand can be handled
by increasing the circulation frequency of the kanbans, by increasing overtime, or by hiring
temporary operators.
Relationship to Vendors
If the flow of kanban cards back through the production process is followed logically, it is clear
that, ultimately, the incoming raw material and the purchased parts point is reached. This leads to
the question of how the Kanban system might be extended to outside vendors. On the one hand,
we can have large inventories of each part, which are replenished by suppliers at weekly, or
perhaps longer, intervals. However, this defeats one of the essential purposes of JIT, which is to
reduce inventories. On the other hand, we can carry the Kanban process right out and into the
vendors' production systems. This procedure normally involves regular and frequent deliveries

from the vendors and is achieved through the establishment of close cooperation with suppliers
and the sharing of as much information as necessary to help the suppliers' organizations achieve
a JIT system. In effect, it involves establishing a true partnership with trusted suppliers .
Kanban as a Productivity Improvement Technique
If the procedures of Kanban outlined earlier are followed rigorously, the level of work in
progress inventory can be controlled by the number of cards issued for each component part into
the system. This is because each card corresponds to one standard container and, knowing the
size of the container and the number of cards on the floor, a simple calculation gives the
inventory level.
Therefore, by reducing the number of cards issued for a particular part, the process inventory
level for that part falls. Eventually, if the levels are reduced low enough, a work center will run
out of material and stop processing. This stops the whole line and major efforts are made to get it
running at the lower level of inventory, by either increasing the number of operators, reducing
set-up times, or redesigning processes.
The thinking is as follows. Unnecessarily high inventory serves to disguise inherent problems
and sources of inefficiency in the production process. Through gradual reduction of inventory
levels, production problems are highlighted and are progressively eliminated.
Assumptions Necessary for Kanban to Work
As indicated above, strict rules must be followed to enable the Kanban system to work efficiently
and effectively. Corresponding to these rules are some fundamental assumptions about the nature
of the manufacturing system, within which the Kanban system operates. We will now briefly
revisit these assumptions.
Since each daily assembly schedule must be very similar to all other daily schedules, it is
essential that it is possible to freeze the master production schedule for a fixed time period,
possibly of at least one month. The final assembly schedule must also be very level and stable.
Any major deviations will cause a ripple effect through the production system causing upstream
work centers to hold larger inventory stocks. What is required ultimately is that the
manufacturing system conform as closely as possible to the repetitive manufacturing system
model outlined earlier.
To run a mixed model system effectively requires mixed model capability in all stages of the
production process
Mixed model manufacturing and assembly involves frequent changes and set-up at the
individual work centers. It follows that the set-up times in all work centers be as small as
possible and that the set-up procedures be continuously reviewed to this end. A logical
conclusion from this is the need for balancing between all operations in order to synchronize the
starting and ending of work routines. This ensures that parts are fed to the assembly line at the
same rate as they are consumed