Implementation of a Multi-Triangular Kanban System in an Electronic Connector Plant

IMPLEMENTATION OF A MULTI-TRIANGULAR KANBAN SYSTEM IN AN ELECTRONIC CONNECTOR PLANT

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Fei GAO 1, Chao GAO 1 and JunHong DONG 1 Workshop of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract. The implementation of a new Kanban system in an electronic connector plant is described in this paper. The plant was characterized by relatively long setup time of machines, high variety of products and multiple machines to multiple assembly lines in job assignment. It’s verified that the traditional Kanban system is not suitable for the plant’s production system under study. A multi-triangular Kanban system was developed to avoid the potential negative effects caused by long setup time and high variety of product types. For the job assignment problem, Kanban allocation was modeled and solved using integer programming. Simulation was run to determine optimal parameter values, including batch size and low control limit, as well as to compare the multi-triangular Kanban system with the single triangular Kanban system. The results show that the multi-triangular Kanban system is superior to the single one in reducing the WIP of the system. Keywords: Kanban, Multi-triangular, WIP, Simulation

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Lean

Introduction

production aims at incorporating multiple

assignment. The remaining of this paper is organized as follows: In the second section, previous researches on Kanban system and pull approach are presented; In the third section, the characteristics of the manufacturing process in the electronic connector plant are described, which forms the fundamental of our analysis; In the fourth section, we discuss the reasons for the implementing of Kanban system in the plant; In section five, different aspects of the multi-triangular Kanban system are described. In section six, the simulation model is presented. The model was used to set the system parameters and evaluate the multi-triangular Kanban system. Finally, issues requiring further...