Flow production according to Kanban
The Kanban philosophy was already developed in 1947 by Toyota under the direction of Taichii Ohno. It serves to increase production speed and delivery readiness by orienting to current demand while taking into account flowing consumption. A fundamental goal here is internal quality assurance, the connection of which to workflow and increasing success in the catering industry is fundamental. For this, we define quality in gastronomy not first with the highest-quality offers, but first with the continuity of the offer. In other words, it is primarily a matter of ensuring that the services you offer correspond as closely as possible to the intended result. (...) The opposite is inevitably the case when a certain item is not available, or an ingredient of a recipe is missing, or the quality of the ingredients does not fit. It is enough if you do not deliver the items in the order of production (First-In First Out) to have a significant negative impact on quality.
The Kanban philosophy is a Just in Time (JIT) delivery according to the pull principle. This means that, based on the current demand, the goods or the product are requested at the right time (just in time) by the consuming area (pull = pull). In the system catering industry, manual JIT delivery on demand takes place for the most part, without applying the proven benefits of the above-mentioned knowledge in all areas.
In 2006, this resulted in the consistent implementation of all manufacturing processes at Hypersoft in a holistic system according to Kanban, consisting of the three areas:
- cash register system
- Stock Management
- flow manufacturing
This secure concept for success will once again be decisive when integrating eSolutions with webshops, delivery services and Order Ahead, as these are further components that place demands on quality (see above). With the Hypersoft Stock Management Controller, you are offered Kanban as an option, or all areas are very well suited for this. Through consistent implementation and flexible adaptation options to the needs of your customers and your business, your business processes can be optimised and quality increased to the maximum possible.
Note - does Kanban suit you?
Kanban is also the key to reducing production and storage costs. At the same time, Kanban combats the most common and serious mistake in the hospitality industry: lack of consistent quality (including product recognition) and thus meeting the guest's expectation, which is the most important factor in increasing the Returning Customers KPI for you. With our production Kanban, you can also, or especially, fulfil any demands on ubiquity (availability and quality of a product across all outlets) in the system gastronomy for the positive expression of your brand.
In order for Kanban to function properly, the entire production transaction must be coordinated with it. What do you need to consider for this changeover?
- You should have a high predictability of goods demand (how much will be ordered today?).
- You need capable and flexible employees.
- The set-up times of your production transactiones should be low (quick start of production of a product).
- Low percentage of special requests and avoidance of custom-made products (your guests should get their expectations met based on your selection and some "planned" changes).
- The selection should be as small as possible (not all restaurateurs know that quality comes before diversity).
- Frequent product changes are annoying (if the number of choices is not too small and the quality is right, you will find that your customers order the same more often and with pleasure - perhaps their demand for variety is rather an indication of quality defects).
- Your suppliers must guarantee consistent quality, delivery reliability and punctuality.
Your claim is not compatible with Kanban?
Then perhaps you have created another individual solution and can do without the Kanban components of the controller. Because Kanban is not a must, but an option. You still have many other proven functions, such as item calculation, theoretical use of goods and inventory control.
It is up to your business decision to determine how consistently Kanban is pursued. Although strict adherence to the mapping of business transactiones is the basis, this can be compensated for by generous observation and manual corrections.
You can very efficiently simply use only individual Kanban components without any disadvantage at this point.
Depending on how your successful business concept is structured, you will make the right decisions. Determine what is best for you.
The components of the Kanban control are part of the controller and included in the standard.
Goods receipt, Kanban container...
To make Kanban work right from the start, all goods are filled into your own containers at goods receipt if their packaging unit is not suitable. In the catering trade you already work in many places with optimal packaging - but also really everywhere?
You will quickly see that some of the supplier's packaging meets different requirements than your own. Your own packaging should be adapted to the production transaction (packaging of goods that do not meet the requirements will then be removed on receipt). The goods are checked for correctness when they are posted (later noticing quality defects or missing quantities would disrupt production).
Hypersoft supports the goods receipt to Kanban with a goods receipt monitor for checking the delivery quantities and the repacking monitor, which enables your employees to repack the goods optimally multimedia and with a checkweigher.
The goods receipt monitor uses the ordering information and purchasing units. In a variant of production control, the goods can be transferred into their own containers during pre-production and labelled with barcode labels. The goods receipt monitor communicates with employees via touch screen. Repacking into your own containers with a connected scale is then carried out using the Repacking Monitor. This work step adjusts the packaging sizes to your specifications as the operational standard, independent of supplier and product changes.
Production control, production kanban...
The Hypersoft controller supports with the production monitor (optional accessory) the production control for the creation of own products with maximum quality assurance. This is a component of flow production according to Kanban.
Production is controlled on the basis of items and component lists (their recipes). Here, unique production instructions are added to these. The production program communicates with the producer via touch screen and checks his activity to the nearest gram or within the specified tolerances. Communication supports multimedia, so that images, sounds and videos can also be used as aids in addition to text and graphic elements. The checkweigher uses the information about the measured quantities of the units in addition to the component lists in order to recognize the volumes of each material using the weight.
An essential element are the kanban cards, which were previously attached to the kanban containers and transported between the different areas. Hypersoft enables the creation of barcode labels, which are additionally linked to a database to obtain additional information about the production and production routes. The transport of the cards is no longer necessary and is replaced by an automatic transport of the information within the Hypersoft Suite. This complements Kanban with the knowledge and advantages of modern PPS systems (production planning and control systems).
Disposition monitor, Kanban board...
The disposition monitor is the heart of the automation of goods movements. It displays the requested delivery quantities and is used to allocate the requirements to the production and delivery points. You can have the monitor operated by a MRP controller or run it automatically.
Stock specifications, signal kanban...
Hypersoft supports the entry of inventory defaults according to all operational requirements. Basic methods are target stocks and internal dependencies of the storage location. The time-controlled stock specifications of the individual storage facilities adapt to every situation. A theoretical goods consumption is calculated on the basis of the sales data. This is used to calculate the current (theoretical) stock, which is compared with the current target stock. The difference from this generates a signal kanban, which appears in the form of a goods requisition on the MRP monitor and is issued as a delivery note or delivery instruction.
The controlling introduced by Hypersoft into the gastronomy industry in 1989 with a checkweigher and inventory specifications for operational automation corresponds in every respect to the Kanban philosophy and thus complements Kanban with the essential point in the gastronomy industry:
Because if you are wondering why the basically successful Kanban technique has not been used in the catering industry so far, we would like to answer this question now. Perhaps your company is incompatible with the "philosophy" (see introduction of the chapter: Does Kanban suit you?), but the absolutely essential opponent is the "operationally approved inventory sabotage", which results from the fact of the daily many seemingly inscrutable business transactions and manufacturing transactiones. Activities or attitudes that we call stock sabotage:
- None or little interest in inventory management
- Posting not to the item level
- All consumption in addition to the sale occurs without booking (e.g. breakage, self-consumption, invitations)
- No control of employees and customers against theft
- Acceptance of goods without control and thus loss of responsibility
- No control of recipe compliance (portion quantity control for F & B)
Back to the parent page: Choosing the optimal inventory management system