Overview of Kanban Replenishment (Oracle Inventory Help)


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Overview of Kanban Replenishment

Kanban is a means of supporting pull-based replenishment in manufacturing systems. A Kanban system is a self-regulating pull system that leads to shorter lead times and reduced inventory. Kanban systems are typically applied to items that have relatively constant demand and medium-to-high production volume.

Kanbans represent replenishment signals that are usually manual and highly visible such as a color-coded card that moves with the material, a light that goes on when replenishment is required, or an empty bin that is moved to the supply location to trigger replenishment.

The system provides support for external devices such as bar code readers to read kanban cards and trigger a replenishment signal.

Kanbans can be sourced from an external supplier or an internal organization. A "Supplier" kanban triggers a purchase request to the supplier, while an "inter-org" kanban results in an inter-organization transfer.

Kanbans are generally replenishable and cycle through the system from full to empty, remaining active until they are withdrawn. One-time signals called non-replenishable kanbans are used primarily to manage sudden spikes in demand.

Major Features

Kanban Planned Items

To define a kanban planned item, you must set the Release Time Fence attribute in the MPS/MRP Planning Attribute Group to Kanban Item (Do Not Release). Only kanban planned items can be used in defining a pull sequence. See: MPS/MRP Planning Attribute Group.

Pull Sequences

For every kanban planned item, you must define a pull sequence, which is a series of kanban locations that model the replenishment network on the shop floor. A kanban location can be a subinventory or an inventory locator. The replenishment source for a kanban location can be another kanban location, a production line, or an external source (either another organization or an outside supplier). You can use locators even if locator control is turned off at the organization, subinventory, and item levels.

You can define kanban pull sequences using inventory locators to represent kanban locations, compute kanban quantities by locator, and then track by subinventory in order to reduce the number of inventory transactions. See: Defining Kanban Pull Sequences

Card Definition

Kanban cards are created for an item, subinventory, and locator(optional). They are uniquely identified by a kanban number. For cards generated from a kanban pull sequence, the number is automatically generated. For manually defined cards, both replenishable and non-replenishable, you can enter an unused kanban number or let the system create the number. See: Generating Kanban Cards and Defining Kanban Cards.

Replenishable Cards

You can use the Generate Kanban Cards window to generate cards automatically from the following pull sequence information: item, kanban location, quantity, and source. You can also create these cards manually in the Kanban Cards window.

You cannot override the quantity for generated cards, but you can add additional cards or delete existing cards from the pull sequence to control the inventory in the replenishment chain. Function security is provided for this feature.

A supply source is defaulted from the sourcing rules if a sourcing rule is available for the item and kanban location. Only the primary supplier, based on the split percentage and ranking is used. You can manually override the quantity and supply source on a pull sequence only before the cards have been printed. Changes to the pull sequence will not be reflected until the old cards are deleted and new ones are created.

Updates to sourcing rules apply only to cards created after the update.

Non-replenishable Cards

You can manually define non-replenishable cards by entering the item, location, supply source, and quantity in the Kanban Cards window. Non-replenishable cards do not have to be associated with a pull sequence.

Source Type

You can create kanban cards with the following source types:

Inter Org Replenished by another organization

Intra Org Replenished from another subinventory in the same organization

Production Replenished by a production line

Supplier Replenished by an external supplier

For Intra Org and Production source types, you can create pull sequences for planning use, but you cannot create kanban cards.

Card Status

Kanban cards are generated with a default Card Status of Active. When you define a card manually, you can initially give it either Active or Hold status.

If the Supply Status is Full, you can temporarily pull a card out of the replenishment chain by changing the Card Status to Hold. You can later change the status back to Active.

You can terminate use of a card by changing the Card Status to Canceled, but you cannot reverse this change. Only Canceled cards can be deleted.

Supply Status

All the following Supply Status codes can be set manually. All except In-Transit can be set automatically.

New The kanban has just been created and is not yet part of the replenishment chain.

Empty The kanban is empty and a replenishment signal has been generated.

Full The kanban has been replenished.

Wait The kanban is waiting until the minimum order quantity has been met by the aggregation of cards.

In-Process For the Supplier source type, the purchase order has been approved. For the Inter Org source type, the internal requisition has been approved.

In-Transit You have received an ASN indicating that the kanban quantity has been shipped from the replenishment source, but you have not yet received it.

All cards are generated with a status of New. You can switch this status to Empty to trigger a kanban replenishment signal. During initial setup, you can switch the status to Full it you are starting out with a full bin. When you are defining a card manually, you can create a card with a status of Empty, Full, or New.

Card Printing

You can print Kanban cards for a replenishment plan or a replenishment chain when you generate the cards. You can also print cards individually if the card information is complete.

You can print duplicate cards only if the original is lost or voided. You are given a warning message before you can print duplicates.

Inter Org	Replenished by another organization
Intra Org	Replenished from another subinventory in the same organization
Production	Replenished by a production line
Supplier	Replenished by an external supplier

New	The kanban has just been created and is not yet part of the replenishment chain.
Empty	The kanban is empty and a replenishment signal has been generated.
Full	The kanban has been replenished.
Wait	The kanban is waiting until the minimum order quantity has been met by the aggregation of cards.
In-Process	For the Supplier source type, the purchase order has been approved. For the Inter Org source type, the internal requisition has been approved.
In-Transit	You have received an ASN indicating that the kanban quantity has been shipped from the replenishment source, but you have not yet received it.