Manual Kanban vs. Electronic Kanban

We've talked about both Kanban and Electronic Kanban in previous posts here. Kanban is inclusive of Electronic Kanban and what we'll call Manual Kanban for purposes of comparison in this post. Manual Kanban, as you've probably guessed, is basically non-Electronic. Both include all the basic components of a Kanban system.

We're defining these terms because we want to address a commonly asked question we hear from prospective clients within the sales cycle? Should we implement a "manual" Kanban system before we implement Electronic Kanban.

The short answer is NO. A good Electronic Kanban system will not just support traditional Kanban activities, but ensures a few other activities are supported making it ultimately more efficient. With a good eKanban system, you can can still print out Kanban cards and reuse these cards over and over. Customers can also use a manual Heijunka board so that everyone can see the status of all material and production in conjunction with Electronic Kanban so there's no real difference there between the two systems.

But there are some significant advantages to eKanban as well. Quality software will let users calculate when cards should be added or deleted from the system and when a card is lost, missing, or where it was last seen, helping to keep a Kanban system on track. Good manufacturing software will also integrate with most ERP systems, allowing integration across the network. But the most significant advantage comes with the bar code scanning inherent in most Electronic Kanban implementations. With bar code scanning, you ensure a level of integration and accuracy of inventory that is hard to attain manually.

Furthermore, we've found there's no real advantage from learning Kanban manually before upgrading. As shop floors and companies in general become more integrated with electronic systems (and most have ERP implementations of one kind or another), one could argue it might be more difficult to integrate a "manual" Kanban system into your Lean production facility than an Electronic one.