Kanban (kahn-bahn) is a Japanese word; when translated it literally means “visible record” or
“visible
part” (Surendra et al., 1999). General, it refers to a signal of some kind; thus in manufacturing,
it refers to Kanban cards. The Kanban system is based on a customer of a part pulling the part from
the supplier of that part. The customer of the part can be an actual consumer of a finished
product (external) or the production personnel at the succeeding station in a manufacturing
facility (internal). Likewise, the supplier could be the person at the preceding station in a
manufacturing facility. The premise of Kanban is that material will not be produced or moved until
a customer sends the signal to do so (Surendra et al., 1999). Nowadays in order to achieve
manufacturing excellence, most organizations developed various techniques and methods to make their
production operations productive and effective. Most Japanese companies implement the Kanban system
because it save costs by eliminating over production, developing flexible work stations, reducing
waste and scrap, minimizing the waiting times and logistics costs; thus reducing the inventory
stock levels and overhead
costs (Surendra et al., 1999).