In August, 2007, our facility ran dangerously low on cartons used in order production. In fact, some sizes did run to zero and the production team needed to substitute different sizes to complete their work. That extra effort resulted in waste and lost productivity!
To insure such a problem never happens again, we installed a production carton
kanban system to maintain our production carton stock on hand. Using visual controls in the form of an
MDI board prominently displayed in the office, we have raised awareness regarding the status of our production cartons for all associates. The board displays average usage per day, average days on hand, the reorder point, the last five days on hand counts, and any cartons on order from our supplier. Each size is counted daily, which doesn't take long because the pallets are standard. The count quantity is entered onto the board daily. If an on hand quantity is below the reorder point, it is circled and an order is placed with the carton supplier. If something goes wrong, such as a count being missed or we forget to place a new order when running low, it is obvious to anyone looking at the MDI board and can quickly and easily be corrected.
Setting the reorder point properly, allowing for production time and safety stock needs, coupled with daily counts, insures we will never again run short on our mission critical production cartons!
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