Flexible kanban system

Just-in-time (JIT) systems were originally designed for deterministic produ ction environments such as constant processing times and smooth and stable demand However, once implemented, JIT is fraught with numerous types of unc ertainties including variations in processing time and demand, planned inte rruptions such as preventive maintenance and unplanned interruptions such a s equipment failure. These uncertainties lead to lowered production through put decreased machine utilization, increased order completion time and grea ter backlogs and overtime requirements. In this paper, we introduce a newly developed system, which we refer to as the flexible kanban system (FKS) to cope with uncertainties and planned/unplanned interruptions. We demonstrat e the superiority of the new system by considering four case examples cover ing various uncertainties, conducting numerous studies and comparing the ov erall performances of the FKS with that of the traditional JIT system. In a ll the cases considered, the Performance of the FKS was, indeed, superior t o that of the traditional JIT system.