Electronic Kanban
by Ron on February 3rd, 2007Here is a question for all the Lean gurus out there. Is “Electronic Kanban” an oxymoron? I have my own opinion but would like to hear yours.
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One of the chief functions of kanban is to link the information with the gembutsu - actual product - so completely replacing cards with something electronic would defeat this purpose.
If you can keep pushing a button and ordering more, even if it has not been consumed, this also defeats the purpose of kanban, which is to curb overproduction.
When you don’t have physical kanban (cards) then you don’t have a limited money supply, so to speak, and you can push more product from bucket to bucket from your ivory tower.
Electronic Kanban is one of those things people who don’t have the grit to put together a true kanban system tend to gravitate to, in my opinion.
I haven’t seen electronic kanban done well, except where they just call it “kanban” and make technology conform to the design intent of kanban. Rather than other way around.
In general the understanding and deployment of kanban is very poor across the Lean world.
Thanks Jon. I must admit, I agree 100% with you. My post was driven by the fact some company pitching electronic Kanban continues to call me. I have told them “not interested” more than once and they continue to call. I give them “A” for persistence.