Test Bank Lean Systems Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

LEAN SYSTEMS

CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production. Lean production has truly changed the face of manufacturing and transformed the global economy. Originally known as just-in-time (JIT), it began at Toyota Motor Company as an effort to eliminate waste (particularly inventories). It has since evolved into a system for the continuous improvement of all aspects of manufacturing operations. Lean production is both a philosophy and a collection of management methods and techniques. The main advantage of the system is derived from the integration of the techniques into a focused, smooth-running management system. There are 10 basic elements to lean production:

1. Flexible resources

2. Cellular layouts

3. Pull system

4. Kanbans

5. Small lots

6. Quick setups

7. Uniform production levels

8. Quality at the source

9. Total productive maintenance

10. Supplier networks

2. Contrast the application of lean concepts in North American-based facilities versus Japan-based facilities, and describe the benefits and drawbacks of lean production. Lean North American plants are typically larger, deliveries from suppliers are less frequent, more buffer inventory is held, and kanbans are very simple compared to lean plants in Japan. The slow pace of continuous improvement is hard to maintain for North American workers. Thus, kaizen blitzes, intense process improvement over a week’s time with immediate results, are easier and more energizing to conduct. Some benefits of lean production include reductions in manufacturing cycle time, reductions in inventory, reductions in labour costs, and reductions in space requirements. However, there are drawbacks. It can be difficult to maintain the discipline of lean production, and lean production may not be the best choice for high-volume repetitive items where mass production is more common. Also, lean production can present problems when unexpected changes in demand or supply occur.

3. Describe how lean systems can be applied in other situations, such as services, the supply chain, and environmental initiatives.

Other applications of lean production include:

Fast-food restaurants, where workers are added during peak times and reduced during slow times

Construction firms that coordinate the arrival of materials “just as needed” instead of stockpiling them on site

Companies where process mapping has streamlined operations and eliminated waste (especially in terms of paper flow and information processing)

Lens providers, cleaners, and car-repair services that turn around customer orders in an hour

Retailers who introduce dozens of new clothing lines each year in smaller quantities

TRUE-FALSE STATEMENTS

1. Kaizen is a Japanese term that means fool proofing to prevent defects.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

2. Mass production means doing more with fewer workers, less inventory, and less space.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

3. The individual generally credited with the development of lean production is an American.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

4. In lean production, waste is defined as anything that does not add value to the product.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

5. General purpose machines are an example of flexible resources.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

6. Producing items before they are needed is considered waste under the principles of lean production.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

7. Waiting for parts to arrive or for machines to finish production is considered a form of waste under the principles of mass production.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

8. The time required for a worker to complete one pass through the operations assigned to her is called the operator cycle time.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

9. Takt time is the pace at which production output is aligned with machine capacity.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

10. Manufacturing cells are comprised of similar machines to process a family of parts.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

11. Taiichi Ohno observed that customers in American supermarkets pull items through the system.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

12. Push systems rely on predetermined production schedules often generated by computerized systems.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

13. The concept of pull production is easy to implement because it is similar to traditional scheduling procedures.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

14. Kanbans were derived from the two-bin inventory system.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

15. A kanban square is a marked area designated for holding a set quantity of output.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

16. Kanbans are used to maintain the discipline required of a push production system.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

17. The number of kanbans needed to maintain control in a pull system can be calculated from demand and lead time information.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

18. Small-lot production reduces lead time but increases quality problems.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

19. Advantages of small-lot production include requiring less space and lower capital investment.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

20. The lower inventory levels associated with small-lot production make processes more dependent on each other.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

21. Setup time is not a component of the cumulative lead time for a manufactured product.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

22. The lower inventory levels resulting from small-lot production hides problems in the production process.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

23. Internal setup activities can be performed when a process is running.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

24. Reducing variability in production through more accurate demand forecasts is one way to maintain uniform production levels.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

25. A poka-yoke is any foolproof device that prevents defects or injury from occurring.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

26. The authority for a worker to stop the production line when quality problems are encountered is known as poka-yoke.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

27. Total productive maintenance combines preventive maintenance with kaizen.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

28. Lean concepts cannot be applied to services because services are intangible.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

29. Flexible resources are a basic element of lean production.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

30. The concept of cellular layouts was developed by a U.S. engineer in the 1920s.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Hard

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

31. The output of a manufacturing cell is changed by adding or removing workers.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

32. The pull system was developed by Ohno to coordinate production between processes.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

33. A push system prevents both overproduction and underproduction.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

34. In the dual kanban system, a withdrawal kanban authorizes the production of goods.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

35. One benefit of small-lot production is that workers show fewer tendencies to let poor quality pass.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

36. One component of lead time, setup time, is often the biggest bottle neck.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Hard

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

37. In lean production, a strong relationship exists between setup times and small lots.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

38. In a lean production system, kanban systems have been shown to handle large fluctuations in the production requirements on the final assembly line.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

39. Mixed-modelling sequencing is used at Toyota to reduce setup times.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

40. Poka-yoke is a Japanese term used to describe the removal of waste in a lean production system.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

41. To keep machines running, firms can use either breakdown maintenance or preventative maintenance.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

42. Firms that adopt lean production experience reductions in cycle time, inventory cost, and employee training costs.

Answer: False

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Contrast the application of lean concepts in North American-based facilities versus Japan-based facilities, and describe the benefits and drawbacks of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.2 Implementing Lean Production

43. Early adopters of lean production in North America were unsuccessful because they tried to implement lean by slashing inventories and forcing their suppliers to make more frequent deliveries.

Answer: True

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Contrast the application of lean concepts in North American-based facilities versus Japan-based facilities, and describe the benefits and drawbacks of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.2 Implementing Lean Production

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

44. All of the following factors pressure companies for quicker response and shorter cycle times except

a) demanding customers.

b) longer product life cycles.

c) globalization.

d) All the above are factors.

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

45) ___ is generally credited with the development of lean production.

a) Frederick Taylor

b) W. Edwards Deming

c) Taiichi Ohno

d) none of the above

Answer: c

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

46. Which of the following is not a basic element of lean production?

a) flexible resources

b) pull system

c) repetitive production

d) small lot production

Answer: c

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

47. In lean production, waste is defined as

a) overproduction.

b) high levels of inventory.

c) unnecessary movement.

d) All the above are waste.

Answer: d

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

48. The pace at which production should take place to match the rate of customer demand is known as

a) product flow time.

b) jidoka time.

c) kanban time.

d) takt time.

Answer: d

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

49. In a pull production system, a card that corresponds to a standard quantity of production is known as a(n)

a) jidoka.

b) andon.

c) kanban.

d) kaizen.

Answer: c

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

50. In a pull system reducing the number of kanbans

a) increases inventory making problems more visible.

b) reduces inventory making problems less visible.

c) reduces inventory making problems more visible.

d) increases inventory making problems less visible.

Answer: c

Difficulty: Hard

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

51. A workstation’s output is 200 bottles of wine per hour. It takes 45 minutes to receive a withdrawal kanban of corks from the previous workstation. The withdrawal kanban is attached to a container holding 30 corks. The process uses a safety factor of 20 percent. What is the number of withdrawal kanbans needed to support the bottling process?

a) 4

b) 5

c) 6

d) 3

Answer: c

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

52. A workstation’s output is 200 bottles of wine per hour. It takes 30 minutes to receive a withdrawal kanban of corks from the previous workstation. The withdrawal kanban is attached to a container holding 30 corks. The process uses a safety factor of 20 percent. What is the number of withdrawal kanbans needed to support the bottling process?

a) 10

b) 2

c) 8

d) 4

Answer: d

Difficulty: Hard

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

53. A workstation must produce 400 units an hour. It takes 24 minutes to receive the necessary material for production from the previous workstation. Output is moved between workstations in containers holding 44 units. If the process uses a safety factor of 10%, then the amount of safety stock on average would be

a) 16

b) 32

c) 8

d) 60

Answer: a

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

54. A workstation must produce 400 units an hour. It takes 24 minutes to receive the necessary material for production from the previous workstation. Output is moved between workstations in containers holding 44 units. If the process uses a safety factor of 10%, then the number of kanbans that should be circulating between this workstation and the previous workstation is

a) 2

b) 4

c) 6

d) 8

Answer: b

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

55. How many kanbans should circulate between two workstations if demand is 500 units per hour, lead time is 20 minutes, container sizes are 35, and the company uses a safety factor of 5%?

a) 4

b) 5

c) 12

d) 8

Answer: b

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

56. Which of the following statements concerning small-lot production is not true?

a) Small-lot production requires less space.

b) Small-lot production requires more capital investment.

c) Small-lot production simplifies transportation between workstations.

d) Small-lot production allows processes to be moved closer together.

Answer: b

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

57. Lower inventory levels make processes

a) less dependent on each other while keeping bottlenecks hidden.

b) less dependent on each other while revealing bottlenecks more quickly.

c) more dependent on each other while revealing bottlenecks more quickly.

d) more dependent on each other while keeping bottlenecks hidden.

Answer: c

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

58. Which of the following is not a typical component of lead time?

a) processing time

b) maintenance time

c) waiting time

d) setup time

Answer: b

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

59. Improved scheduling of materials, workers, and machines will most generally affect

a) processing time.

b) move time.

c) waiting time.

d) setup time.

Answer: c

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

60. Which of the following is not a principle for reducing setup times?

a) converting external setup to internal setup

b) converting internal setup to external setup

c) separating internal setup from external setup

d) performing setup activities in parallel

Answer: a

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

61. ___ setups that can be performed in advance while the machine is running.

a) Internal

b) External

c) Parallel

d) Unnecessary

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

62. A ___ is a foolproof device that prevents defects from occurring.

a) kaizen

b) jidoka

c) muda

d) poka-yoke

Answer: d

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

63. The authority given to the worker to stop the production line if quality problems are encountered is known as

a) kaizen.

b) jidoka.

c) poka-yoke.

d) muda.

Answer: b

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

64. The concept of allocating extra time to a schedule for planning, problem solving, and maintenance is known as

a) preventative scheduling.

b) preventive maintenance.

c) over capacity maintenance.

d) under capacity scheduling.

Answer: d

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

65. The benefits of lean production include all of the following except reduced

a) inventory.

b) product variety.

c) pace requirements.

d) lead times.

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

66. All of the following are benefits expected from implementing lean production except

a) better quality.

b) shorter lead times.

c) reduced capacity.

d) improved sales.

Answer: c

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

67. Lean production is difficult to implement when

a) demand is highly variable.

b) product variety is high.

c) there are many unique products.

d) all of the above are true.

Answer: d

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

68. Combining the practice of preventive maintenance with the concepts of total quality is known as

a) total preventive quality.

b) total productive maintenance.

c) quality breakdown maintenance.

d) reliability assurance.

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

69. Mixed-model sequencing

a) facilitates total productive maintenance.

b) achieves uniform production levels.

c) increases product lead times.

d) reduces worker productivity.

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

70. Which of the following is not typically a component of lead time?

a) move time

b) breakdown time

c) wait time

d) setup time

Answer: b

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

71. A ___ kanban is used to order material in advance of production.

a) material

b) supplier

c) production

d) withdrawal

Answer: a

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

72. Which of the following is not a benefit of lean production?

a) greater flexibility

b) increased capacity

c) more customers

d) more product variety

Answer: c

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Contrast the application of lean concepts in North American-based facilities versus Japan-based facilities, and describe the benefits and drawbacks of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.2 Implementing Lean Production

73. Value stream mapping (VSM) is a tool for

a) reducing setup times.

b) improving quality at the source.

c) analyzing process flow.

d) designing manufacturing cells.

Answer: c

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe how lean systems can be applied in other situations, such as services, the supply chain, and environmental initiatives.

Section Reference: 16.3 Other Applications of Lean Systems

74. Analyzing process flow and eliminating waste is referred to as

a) just-in-time.

b) the Toyota Production System.

c) value stream mapping.

d) total productive maintenance.

Answer: c

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Objective: Describe how lean systems can be applied in other situations, such as services, the supply chain, and environmental initiatives.

Section Reference: 16.3 Other Applications of Lean Systems

SHORT-ANSWER ESSAY QUESTIONS

75. What role does the elimination of waste play in lean production?

Answer: The elimination of waste, or muda in Japanese, is a basic tenet of lean production. Waste is viewed as anything other than the minimum amount of equipment, materials, parts, space, and time necessary to add value to the product. In operations, waste results from overproduction, waiting, unnecessary transporting of materials and parts, unnecessary steps in production, excessive inventory, rework and scrap. Lean production is the result of the mandate to eliminate waste in all its forms from the production process.

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

76. What is a manufacturing cell and what is its purpose?

Answer: Manufacturing cells group dissimilar machines together to process a family of parts with similar shapes or processing requirements. The layout of machines within the cell resembles a small assembly line and is usually U-shaped. Work is moved within the cell, ideally one unit at a time, from one process to the next by a worker moving about the cell in a prescribed path. Work normally flows through the cell in one direction and experiences little waiting. Changes of product mix within the cell are easy to accommodate. Changes in volume can be handled by adding workers or subtracting workers from the cell. Because cells produce similar items, setup times are low and lot sizes can be reduced. Movement from the cells to assembly lines occurs in small lots. Manufacturing cells reduce waste because of their smaller size, workflow, and flexibility.

Difficulty: Hard

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

77. How does the pull system differ from the push system?

Answer: In a push system, a schedule is prepared in advance for a series of workstations, and each workstation pushes its completed work to the next station even if the next station is not ready for it. This can lead to high work-in-process inventories. With the pull system, workers go back to previous stations and take only the parts or materials they need and can process immediately. When their output has been taken, workers at the previous station know it is time to start producing more, and they replenish the exact quantity that the subsequent station just took away. If their output is not taken, workers at the previous station simply stop production; no excess is produced. The pull system forces operations to work in coordination with one another. It prevents overproduction and under production since only necessary quantities are produced.

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

78. What is a kanban and how is it used in a pull system?

Answer: Kanban is the Japanese word for card. In the pull system, each kanban corresponds to a standard quantity of production or size of container. A kanban contains basic information such as a part number, brief description, type of container, unit load, preceding station, and subsequent station. Sometimes the kanban is colour-coded to indicate raw materials or other stages of manufacturing. The information on the kanban does not change during production. The kanbans are used to exercise more control over the pull process on the shop floor and to encourage the continual reduction of inventory.

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production

79. What are the benefits of small-lot production?

Answer: Small-lot production requires less space and capital investment than systems that incur large inventories. By producing small amounts at a time, processes can be moved physically closer together and transportation between stations can be simplified. In small-lot production, quality problems are easier to detect and employees show less tendency to let poor quality pass. Lower inventory levels make processes more dependent on each other. This is beneficial because it reveals errors and bottlenecks more quickly and gives workers an opportunity to solve them.

Difficulty: Medium

Learning Objective: Describe the 10 basic elements of lean production.

Section Reference: 16.1 The Basic Elements of Lean Production