A Markov Chain Analysis of the Effectiveness of Kanban Card with Dynamic Information

Abstract

The pull system produces products based on customer demands. Each station is isolated until a customer order is placed; then a signal or Kanban is sent from downstream station to upstream station and continues until the first station. Most of the papers studied pull system in deterministic environment while many real production lines are subjected to different types of uncertainties. The objective of this paper is to apply a dynamic Kanban system that changes the information on the Kanban cards based on the remained inventory in the buffer. The proposed approach uses a Markov chain analysis to compare effectiveness of the Kanban card with dynamic information with the Kanban card with static information. In this paper the production line of two work stations and two inventory buffer is modeled. Throughput, shortage, work-in-process and cycle time are the model measurement parameters and the results show the advantages of the proposed approach.