In one of the sheet metal industries, we were trying to put the existing ‘Kanban’ into place. We designed the cards for the Kanban bins. Soon it was time to insert the cards into the bins. The existing number of bins was sufficient for the actual number of components, as on paper.

The fun started soon, as the bins were exhausted and there were missing bins. It became evident that the bins were to be hunted down, rather than just collected. Nobody in the factory had a clue as to where the bins could possibly be. With the assistance of the concerned production engineer, the hunt began.

It took a complete 3 days just to find ‘some’ of the bins that were missing. While all the effort in the world was being put here to find the bins, they were lying happily under the machine, under the fixture, inside the cupboard, in all possible places that just could not be imagined. A few of the bins were being used as a place to keep the stationary items safely. It was used as a drawer. They were used as a place to keep unwanted things in the shop floor, including dust. There was a work center where in the operator never knew that a bin was hiding under the worktable. What turned out to be a bin hunt turned out to be a game of hide–and–seek.

The bins provided a respite to the operators who had produced / machined some components that were actually not required at all. In addition, this was stored in their work areas for a period of one eternity.

What mattered most was a sense of satisfaction and the smile, when even one bin was found from its hiding place.

Now we’ve got into a situation where in, have we really found all the bins??? The game continues….

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