In the post-WW II era, Toyota realized that they could improve profitability and product quality by matching parts inventory with real-time demand to create a “just-in-time” production and provisioning process. To achieve this, they implemented a visual system to track the movement of parts from the supplier to storage locations and finally to the assembly line. This approach lowered costs, improved quality, and accelerated the rate of production. They named the process “Kanban,” a Japanese word that translates to “signboard” or “visual signal” in English. The method was so effective that Kan ..read more

Agile project management is an iterative philosophy that focuses on delivering value frequently and getting quick feedback from internal and external customers to adapt to emerging changes quickly. It is based on: Limiting work in progress to small batches Using visual management to create transparency Working in close collaboration with the customer Get feedback as quickly as possible. This approach allows organizations to promptly adapt to changing customer requirements and produce higher-value products or services to better satisfy their customer's needs.  Rather than being a prescr ..read more

The internet is full of free Kanban Excel templates that you can download. That’s not surprising because the format of a Kanban board can be very simple, and Excel is attractive because most people know how to use its basic features, and everyone in the company probably already has access to it. Setting up a Kanban board in Excel and emailing it out to everyone is easy. That’s why we aren’t surprised that so many organizations start out on this road. Very few, however, reach their goals with this approach. Here’s why ..read more

Kanban boards are excellent visual management tools for tracking work-in-progress, identifying roadblocks, and ensuring a free-flowing value stream. The idea started with inventory cards helping workers at Toyota ensure that the right parts were available just in time. Leaders took the concept and used it to track any type of work, often on a poster or whiteboard. These days, you’ll find them in hospitals, software firms, construction offices, schools, and more ..read more

As you might expect, we write quite a bit about Lean and Six Sigma management techniques that have been modernized by moving to digital form and becoming an integrated part of a continuous improvement management platform. Huddle boards, suggestion boxes, task tracking, and improvement cycles like DMAIC and PDSA all become more effective and efficient when moved to the cloud. When it comes to Kanban, some applications will remain in the analog world. But for the management of work-in-progress, a digital Kanban management tool can be a real game-changer. Moving status cards off of the wall and ..read more

Microsoft Excel is one of the most widely used applications on the planet. I know exactly why. It’s amazingly flexible, most people know how to use its core features, and almost everyone already has it installed on their computer. What’s not to love? When it comes to digitizing your Kanban board, there is a lot not to love about Excel. Here are the main problems with using Excel for Kanban: No matter how expertly you’ve designed your spreadsheet, it is still a passive artifact. It won’t notify your team when tasks or due or deadlines are missed. Spreadsheets are easily broken. If you lock ..read more

The Kanban visual management technique has been around since the late 1940’s when Toyota introduced it in its manufacturing plants. They were looking to improve efficiency and reduce waste, and in the process, paved the way for just-in-time manufacturing. At Toyota, workers used color-coded Kanban cards to signal to downstream workers when there was a need for parts. The word Kanban means “shopkeepers card” or “visual sign” in Japanese. These days, the Kanban approach has been adopted and modified for use by workers in almost all industries. The most common display is a physical board that ha ..read more

The Kanban technique started in the late 1940’s as Toyota looked to rethink its approach to manufacturing. The object was to reduce waste, improve efficiency and enable what’s come to be known as just-in-time manufacturing. Toyota’s workers displayed colorful Kanban cards to communicate to downstream workers that there was a demand for parts. (Kanban means “visual signal” or “shopkeepers card” in Japanese.) This visual management approach helped teams communicate instantly about what needed to be done and when. Fast forward to today, and you’ll find that the Kanban approach has evolved to be ..read more

One of the great things about working at KaiNexus is that our team has lots of insightful conversations with customers, prospects, consultants, trainers, and others interested in the tools and techniques associated with continuous improvement. We often get together and share notes on what topics are trending and what information people in the field are looking for. Lately, the subject of Kanban and Kanban boards has come up quite a bit. We think this is driven by a larger trend toward visual management and dashboards for all business functions. It’s clear from our conversations that people ha ..read more

Visual management, sometimes called visual control, is the technique of communicating information using visual signals rather than text or written instruction. People process visual images much more quickly than text, so the approach is an excellent way to achieve efficiency and clarity of communications. We often think of huddle boards or Kanban cards when we think about visual management, but it can take many forms. For example, some organizations have different colored uniforms for different teams, others use visual cues to mark where tools should be placed when not in use. The advantages ..read more