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Quantum VS Help: File Maintenance |
Kanban records are the basis of a Kanban supply management system, which works as follows:
1. The Quantum VS System Administrator creates Kanban records on the system. Each record holds the Kanban bar code and (optionally) the replenishment quantity of a Product bin to be scanned in the Customer's warehouse, linking it with a Product record, Customer record and Web Environment. See Creating A Kanban Record.
2. The Quantum VS 'Scanner User' goes to the Customer's warehouse and scans the Kanban bar code visible on each empty Product bin (i.e. each bin to be replenished).
3. The file from the scanner is imported into Quantum VS. Parked or Held Sales Orders are created automatically for the Customer with the required quantity of goods to replenish each empty Product bin. These Sales Orders may be amended/Completed/deleted as necessary. See Kanban File Import And Sales Order Generation.
4. The 'Scanner User' takes the goods with them on their next visit to the Customer's warehouse, topping up the Product bins and scanning empty bins (as in step 2).
For a more detailed explanation - including examples and the benefits of Kanban supply management and Quantum VS - see What Is Kanban Supply Management? below.
Note: Kanban Bar Code labels may be printed for a selected range of products, Customer accounts or Kanban Bar Codes. For further details see Label Printing.
This section covers:
Note: See also: Finding Kanban Records.
Kanban is an inventory control system developed by Toyota in the 1950s. Based on the principle of 'just in time' fulfilment, the system avoids the need to carry large stock inventories.
In a Kanban supply management system, the number of parts a supplier needs to deliver is based on customer demand for the product. Kanban is often referred to as a 'pull system', since requests for the delivery of parts are 'pulled' from the customer’s order. The word 'kanban' translates as 'card you can see': in the past, warehouse staff would read what was written on the attached Kanban card. Today, bar codes and scanners are used instead.
To explain how Kanban supply management works in Quantum VS, consider the following two-company scenario:
Acme Car Makers is the customer which requires parts to be delivered; and
Monster Motor Factors is the merchant/supplier which delivers the parts. This is 'your' company, which uses Quantum VS.
Acme constructs and sells the Acme Sport Plus sports car. Demand for these cars fluctuates; Acme might sell 50 one month and two the next. Hence, their need for parts - and the regularity with which new orders for these parts need to be placed - is variable.
Acme relies on various suppliers to deliver the components used to construct the Acme Sport Plus sports car. One of these is your company, Monster Motor Factors, which supplies the following: mini Phillips screws (40 per car); main beam headlamp bulbs (2 per car); rear bumpers (1 per car).
Since demand for the Acme Sport Plus vehicle varies, Acme will not commit to a monthly delivery of a specific quantity of the above parts. Instead it operates a 'demand based' Kanban system, which works as follows.
Each component of the Acme Plus sports car is stored in a Product bin in Acme's warehouse. When a new car is built, members of Acme's construction team take the required number of items from each component's bin to construct the car, so that over time the number of items in each bin goes down. When a bin is empty, new stock is required to refill it.
Typically, two bins are used for each component. Items are picked from one bin until it is empty. When it is empty, items are picked from the second bin and the first bin is topped up. Kanban cards are no longer used; instead, each empty Product bin is turned around to display a Kanban bar code on the back, ready to be scanned.
Responsibility for restocking the bins lies with Acme's suppliers, one of which is your company - Monster Motor Factors. You use the Kanban Maintenance features of Quantum VS to automate the procedure for scanning Product bins, working out which products to order and the quantity required, and then creating Sales Orders.
Your member of staff responsible for replenishing Acme's Product bins is Dave, who is set up as a 'Scanner User' in Quantum VS.
When Dave visits Acme's warehouse on his monthly run, he goes to each Product bin he is responsible for, starting with 'mini Phillips screws'. If the bin is empty and the Kanban bar code is visible, he scans it with his hand-held scanner. If not, he goes to the next Product bin - in this case, main beam headlamp bulbs. Dave goes around each Product bin in turn, scanning the Kanban bar code of any empty bin.
Having completed his rounds, Dave heads back to base and the file from the scanner is imported into Quantum VS. The system then automatically generates a Parked Sales Order for the Customer - Acme - with the items required to re-stock the empty bins on the next visit. The quantity required to replenish each Product bin is held on your system in the Kanban record, having been agreed with the Customer beforehand. Because the 'auto-generated' Sales Order is Parked, Dave can potentially talk to Acme to discuss their requirements and potentially amend the order before it is Completed. (The Web Environment to which the Kanban record is assigned defines whether generated Sales Orders are Parked or Held, how stock is allocated/back ordered when there is insufficient stock, and - in conjunction with the User record - how far the order will be pushed through the Sales Order Processing cycle.)
Next month Dave returns to Acme's warehouse and tops up the empty Product bins with the ordered goods. Dave also scans the Kanban bar codes of Product bins which have become empty since his last visit, with the data being used to generate next month's order. In the real world, the re-supply interval may be every week, every six months or another period, and Dave might visit many different customers.
The Customer (Acme) benefits from this Kanban supply system because sales ordering and bin replenishment is automatic. Their stock inventories never get too large, with goods supplied on a 'just-in-time' basis according to demand.
The Kanban Maintenance features in Quantum VS make it easy for you - the merchant/supplier (Monster Motor Factors, in this example) to benefit from this arrangement. A Kanban record can easily be created for each Product bin you re-supply, so that the Kanban bar code can then be scanned in the customer's warehouse and details recorded in a file on the scanner. Once the scanner file has been imported into Quantum VS, Sales Orders can be generated automatically and amended as necessary before Completion, after which you can stock up empty Product bins with the required quantity of goods.
NEXT: Viewing A Kanban Record