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Use

The course of kanban processing is controlled and made visible through setting the kanbans to the appropriate status. Usually, only the statuses "Empty" and "Full" are used. As a rule, if a material in a kanban has been used up and a kanban is then set to "Empty", this kanban status automatically triggers the replenishment process. The source of supply (producer, supplier) receives the signal to fill up the kanban again. When the full kanban arrives back at the demand source (the consumer), the latter sets the kanban to the status "Full" and the goods receipt is posted for the material. Normally, Kanban is possible with both statuses "Empty" and "Full". Status changes are carried out using bar codes and bar code scanners. When the barcode is scanned, all important information is sent from the demand source (consumer) to the supply source (supplier, producer).

If additional information is required for special cases, it is also possible to set further statuses:

  • "Waiting"

    Indicates that although the material has been consumed, the supply source is not yet to supply any more of it. This status is also set if a new kanban has been created.

  • "In process"

    indicates that the requested material is currently being produced by the supply source.

  • "In transit"

    Indicates that the material is currently on its way from the source of supply (supplier) to the source of demand (consumer).

  • "In use"

    Indicates that the material is currently being withdrawn by the demand source (consumer)

  • "Error"

    Assigned by the system. Indicates that a desired status could not be set successfully.

The first four additional statuses only make sense if you are working with the kanban board . These statuses are set on the kanban board and provide information on work progress.

Features

In all, the following statuses are available:

  • WAITING (status 1)

    The system sets the status "Waiting" in the following cases:

    • If a new kanban has been included in the control cycle and no replenishment has yet been triggered, it has the status "Waiting" and can then be set to "Empty" by the demand source (consumer).

      If Independent Supply Source/Decoupling of Status Change and Replenishment has been defined for a control cycle. In this case, the kanban signal from the demand source does not generate a replenishment element. Instead, the kanban acquires the status "Waiting" until the supply source has triggered replenishment.

    • If a kanban has been locked and is then set to "Empty".

      The status "Waiting" can also be assigned by the demand source (consumer) on the kanban board for information purposes if certain kanbans are initially not to be refilled. For more information, see Kanban Board from the Demand Source View .

  • EMPTY (status 2)

    The status "Empty" is set by the demand source (consumer) when the kanban quantity has been consumed. Depending on the replenishment strategy, this immediately triggers replenishment.

  • IN PROCESS (status 3)/ IN TRANSIT (status 4)

    The statuses "In process" and "In transit" are set by the supply source (supplier) to inform the demand source (consumer) that the kanbans are either being processed or are in transit.

    If you use kanbans with purchase orders, the status of a kanban is automatically set to IN TRANSPORT if an inbound delivery has been generated for the order.

  • FULL (status 5)

    The status "Full" is assigned by the demand source (consumer) upon receipt of the container or if the goods receipt has been posted for the kanban. Exception: Decoupling of Status Change and Goods Receipt Posting .

  • IN USE (status 6)

    The status "In use" is set by the demand source to inform the supply source which kanbans are currently being emptied. (This status can only be set on the kanban board.)

  • ERROR (status 9)

    The status "Error" is set only by the system. It is set if an error occurs during the processing of a kanban. This may happen, for instance, if a kanban is set to "Empty" and a purchase order is simultaneously to be created. If the desired vendor is invalid at this time, it does not make sense to resolve the situation in dialog mode here. The status of the kanban is then set to "Error" with an appropriate system message.

    If you have specified in Customizing for Kanban that only an error message is to be issued when a certain error occurs, the kanban status is not set to "Error". For more information, see: Error Handling .

Statuses 2 and 5 are mandatory statuses that are used to control the kanban process. Statuses 1, 3, 4 and 6 are optional statuses that serve information purposes only.

The statuses of the kanbans are displayed on the kanban board in different colors. The legend shows the meaning of the colors (   KanbanBoard   Display Legend).  

The following illustration shows the sequence of the status changes:

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text.