Hybrid control policies for manufacturing Click HERE to go to the Leaders for Manufacturing Research Group 5 Home Page. A lean manufacturing system is one that meets high throughput or service demands with very little inventory. Despite its significant success, kanban control is not a perfect mechanism to control a lean system.
Kanban control uses the levels of buffer inventories in the system to regulate production.
When a buffer reaches its preset maximum level, the upstream machine is told to stop producing that part type. This is often implemented by circulating cards, the kanbans , between a machine and the downstream buffer. The machine must have a card before it can start an operation. The number of cards circulating determines the buffer size, since once all cards are attached to parts in the buffer, no more parts can be made. When the machine picks up raw materials to perform an operation, it also detaches the card that was attached to the material.