Question

Describe how you would deteremine the number of kanban cards or containers to use?

Answer 1

To determine the number of Kanban cards or containers to use, we need to find data regarding the average demand (d) over a specific time period, the lead time (L) it takes to replenish an order, the required safety stock (S) and the container size (C) in the factory.

Once we have all the above mentioned data on hand, the number of kanban cards or containers to use can be easily calculated using the following formula:

No. of Kanban cards/containers = (average demand during the lead time+ safety stock)/ container size

i.e.

No. of Kanban cards/containers = (dL+S)/C

Please note: if the answer is in decimals, round up to the next whole number.