As we design Lean Manufacturing Systems, we start with Lean Layouts on the shop floor, which are characterised by one-piece-flow in discrete manufacturing plants.
When the customer, internal or external, is not within visual range, we need some signalling device to tell us what to produce, when to produce & how much to produce so as to prevent the muda of ‘overproduction’.

This visual signal is called a ‘Produce Kanban’. The produced material now waits for a signal from the customer to move from its’ storage location to the customer location. This second signal is called a ‘Move Kanban’.

The storage location, where the material waits before moving towards the customer, is called a ‘Supermarket’; not a store’ or a ‘warehouse’, because of its’ supermarket like characteristics.

This program introduces you to these two elements of Lean Manufacturing Systems – Supermarkets & Kanbans.