SyncKanban Software Can Apply Lean Principles to Effectively Manage Scrapped Inventory

Hiding behind every dollar of scrapped inventory are several more dollars lost in storage, productivity, customer satisfaction and potential revenues.

In this article, we’re going to discuss how SyncKanban eKanban software can address a few of the most common causes of scrap in your efforts to apply Lean principles in your organization.

What is eKanban?

Before we get into how SyncKanban software helps reduce scrap, let’s quickly talk about the differences between Kanban processes and an eKanban system.

As a cornerstone of lean manufacturing since at least the 1950s, most manufacturers are undoubtedly aware of how the Kanban process works, even if they haven’t implemented it in their facilities.

Manual Kanban systems have several disadvantages, not the least of which is the physical movement of the signals (cards) through the facility. It is easy for these cards to get damaged, lost or misplaced. The more SKUs you manage, the more likely this is to happen. eKanban software solves this by replacing the physical cards in the manual process with an electronic signal. At Synchrono®, we generally recommend replacing manual Kanban processes with an eKanban system when the manufacturer reaches approximately 200 SKUs.

Also, because there is less physical movement in an eKanban system, the number of steps required can be drastically reduced. One manufacturer reduced the number of steps in their replenishment process from 66 down to 6 by replacing their manual Kanban process with SyncKanban eKanban software. With fewer steps, learning to follow the process also takes less time and reduces the chance of human error.