E-kanban

What is Kanban?
Kanban is a scheduling system for Lean manufacturing which is a
systematic method for the elimination of waste within a manufacturing
system- and JIT manufacturing just in time manufacturing: which is a
method used to reduce the flow times within production as well as
response time from suppliers and to customers-.
It is an Inventory control system to control the supply chain.
HISTORY: It was created by Taiichi Ohno, who was a Japanese industrial
engineer and businessman. He was the first person to implement such
a concept at Toyota to improve manufacturing efficiency and to achieve
JIT.
OPERATION: Kanban aligns inventory levels with actual consumption. A
signal tells the supplier to produce and deliver a new shipment when
material is consumed. These signals are tracked through the
replenishment cycle, bringing visibility to the supplier, consumer, and
buyer. It basically uses the rate of demand to control the rate of
production, passing demand from the end customer up through the
chain of customer-store process. This is what was exactly applied in
1953 at Toyota in its main plant machine shop.
Traditional kanban uses a manual card system that relies on the
physical movement of cards in vinyl pouches attached to parts bins that
contain electronically coded information on specifications and
requirements for production. It is a simple-to-operate visual control tool
that signals the need to take actions in terms of when and where parts
are needed for production assembly. Physical kanban cards are
exchanged between parties/operations during the production process.
In many instances the empty container itself act as the visual kanban
control signal.
Kanban helps to manage production flow in manufacturing processes by
communicating the types and quantities of products needed to a
preceding process. Process. The specifications and requirements
embedded in the cards apply to parts, assemblies and related
information, and facilitate production paced to customer demand, which
saves on warehousing costs. It also minimizes raw materials
inventories, WIP and finished goods, and maintains balance between
work centers through customer-supplier communications.

What is E-Kanban?
E-kanban systems can be integrated into enterprise resource planning
systems enabling real time demand signaling across the supply chain
and improved visibility. Data pulled from E-kanban systems can be used
to optimize inventory levels by better tracking supplier lead and
replenishment times.
E-kanban is a signaling system that uses a mix of technology to trigger
the movement of materials within a manufacturing or production
facility. Electronic kanban differs from traditional kanban in that it uses
technology to replace traditional elements such as kanban cards with
barcodes and electronic messages.
A typical electronic kanban system marks inventory with barcodes,
which workers scan at various stages of the manufacturing process to
signal usage. The scans relay messages to internal/external store to
ensure restocking of products. E-KB often uses the internet as a method
of routing messages to external suppliers and as a means to allow a
real time view of inventory, via a portal, through the supply chain.

Benefits of E-Kanban systems: