Design and scheduling of periodic review kanban systems

In the last years, the term just in-time (JIT) has become a common term in repretitive manufacturing systems. It can be defined as the ideal of having the necessary amount of material available where it is needed and when it is needed. One of the major elements of JIT philosophy and pull mechanism is the Kanban system. This system is the information processing and hence shop floor control system of JIT philosophy. In this study, we propose an algorithm to determine the withdrawal cycle length, kanban size and number of kanbans simultancously in a periodic review Kanban system under multi-item, multi-stage, multi period modified flowline production setting. The proposed algorithm considers the impact of operating characteristics such a.s scheduling and actual lead times on design parameters.