{"id":2010,"date":"2010-04-19T05:46:41","date_gmt":"2010-04-19T12:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=2010"},"modified":"2014-10-01T15:21:16","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T20:21:16","slug":"kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/","title":{"rendered":"Kanban Flow as Nature Intended"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a296a24fa2fc69ef5487857f02f111e8\" data-index=\"9\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Single Post readerboard -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8207522353004717\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1144967431\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p><a title=\"interview on kanban for creative and knowledge work\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-for-creative-knowledge-work-interview-with-david-j-anderson\/14755\/\">Kanban is a signaling system<\/a>, designed to trigger an action.\u00a0 If you think about your experience, there are Kanban systems all around us &#8211; indeed, they might be so obvious that we miss them.\u00a0 In this article we discuss a simple Kanban system, the\u00a07 simplified principles of Kanban, and an everyday example from my own family &#8211; an example which you might be able to relate with.<\/p>\n<p>A Kanban can come in many forms.\u00a0 Some of you have seen the typical <a title=\"signboard kanban\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-family-job-chart\/1577\/\">signboard Kanban<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/people-remember-experiences-not-features-or-attributes\/487\/\">walking alarm clock as an auidble Kanban to force you to awake<\/a>, or an obvious <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-types-and-analytical-sizing\/381\/\">signal Kanban from software development or manufacturing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><\/div>\n<p>A Kanban can also be a &#8220;withdrawal kanban&#8221; or a &#8220;production kanban&#8221;.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Withdrawal Kanban: Authorizes the movement of parts from one stage to the next stage.<\/li>\n<li>Production Kanban: Releases materials to the preceding or &#8220;upstream&#8221; step for replenishment of needed parts to produce.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They are closely related, but in this article we&#8217;ll highlight the withdrawal Kanban.<\/p>\n<p>Regardles of Kanban format,\u00a0a Kanban is designed to signal the following things:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Something is needed<\/li>\n<li>What that something is<\/li>\n<li>When it is needed<\/li>\n<li>How much is needed<\/li>\n<li>Who needs it and who needs to provide it<\/li>\n<li>And some level of predictibility in the process &#8211; &#8220;operationalize the process&#8221; would be the business-speak for what we are talking about<\/li>\n<li>Do not pass defects to the next stage &#8211; disrupts flow, causes defects, rework.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Given the elements of an effective Kanban above, one of the best natural Kanban systems is the cry of a baby.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s investigate.<\/p>\n<h2>Infant as Natural Kanban<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Food is needed<\/li>\n<li>Milk is needed from Mom or Dad (if bottle feeding)<\/li>\n<li>This is where things break down in our example.\u00a0 Ideally, some lead time is signaled by the baby to the parents &#8211; maybe a 5-10 minute lead time prior to the all-out screaming cry for food.<\/li>\n<li>Depending on the baby and doctor&#8217;s suggestions for feeding the baby milk in ounces<\/li>\n<li>The baby needs to be fed by the caregiver &#8211; mom or dad<\/li>\n<li>It has to be said &#8211; but do not feed the baby spoiled milk, or milk in a bottle that is not the right temperature of too hot or too cold &#8211; why?\u00a0 Well, spoiled milk will harm the baby and if the baby is selective, they might not drink the milk if it is too hot or too cold for their liking.\u00a0 Rework is the result of failing on the temperature requirement and panicky parents running about is an appropriate picture to have in your mind&#8217;s eye.\u00a0 In business, this is aptly called &#8220;firefighting&#8221; &#8211; which is an overly-charitable term we give to ourselves in business.<\/li>\n<li>The process is predictible &#8211; all humans and babies have to eat and, since babies have no &#8220;schedule&#8221;, they do have a routine and they are not shy about letting the caregivers know when they are hungry and need to be fed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Flow and Pull<\/h2>\n<div align=\"center\"><\/div>\n<p>The scream of a hungry baby as Kanban wouldn&#8217;t work well if we fed\u00a0milk to the baby\u00a0through a firehose.\u00a0 That approach is an extreme example of Push manufacturing &#8211; that is, producing more than is needed.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine if we did do that.\u00a0 What would happen?\u00a0 The baby (which is our customer in this case) wouldn&#8217;t be satisfied.\u00a0 And,\u00a0the baby would dribble most of the milk and much would be wasted.\u00a0 Rework would be the result, so the baby can be satisfied, exasperated parents because there was no &#8220;leveling&#8221; of demand, and a\u00a0qualitative feeling\u00a0that we didn&#8217;t do as well as we could have.<\/p>\n<p>Back to natural Kanbans.<\/p>\n<p>The baby bottle nipple, on the other\u00a0hand, is a Pull mechanism.\u00a0 It is designed to help the infant eat only what is needed.\u00a0 Modern baby bottle nipples are designed as variable flow &#8211; which means that they can be adjusted to help the infant drink as much as they need at that time &#8211; no more, no less.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-2013 aligncenter\" title=\"kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The result of all this is a natural Kanban that works incredibly well, with little to now waste.\u00a0 The baby is satisfied, little milk is wasted, and the providers of what was needed (milk for the baby, provided by Mom or Dad or caregiver) know what is expected of them, when it is expected of them, and know how to provide what is needed.<\/p>\n<h2>It&#8217;s Your Turn<\/h2>\n<p>What other natural Kanban systems do you see around you?\u00a0 How can you apply the principle of the Kanban to your professional life?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kanban is a signaling system, designed to trigger an action.\u00a0 If you think about your experience, there are Kanban systems all around us &#8211; indeed, they might be so obvious that we miss them.\u00a0 In this article we discuss a simple Kanban system, the\u00a07 simplified principles of Kanban, and an everyday example from my own [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[650],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kanban Flow as Nature Intended<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"illustrating a kanban flow throught the natural Kanban of baby crying for food, how flow is enables by a variable flow nipple, no waste from push\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kanban Flow as Nature Intended\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"illustrating a kanban flow throught the natural Kanban of baby crying for food, how flow is enables by a variable flow nipple, no waste from push\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OpEx Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-19T12:46:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-01T20:21:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/\",\"name\":\"Kanban Flow as Nature Intended\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow-150x150.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-04-19T12:46:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-01T20:21:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd\"},\"description\":\"illustrating a kanban flow throught the natural Kanban of baby crying for food, how flow is enables by a variable flow nipple, no waste from push\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow.jpg\",\"width\":450,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lean Manufacturing\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Kanban\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean\/kanban\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Kanban Flow as Nature Intended\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/\",\"name\":\"OpEx Learning\",\"description\":\"Lean Six Sigma. Simplified.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd\",\"name\":\"Uday Kawar\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kanban Flow as Nature Intended","description":"illustrating a kanban flow throught the natural Kanban of baby crying for food, how flow is enables by a variable flow nipple, no waste from push","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kanban Flow as Nature Intended","og_description":"illustrating a kanban flow throught the natural Kanban of baby crying for food, how flow is enables by a variable flow nipple, no waste from push","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/","og_site_name":"OpEx Learning","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula","article_published_time":"2010-04-19T12:46:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-01T20:21:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"Uday Kawar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@shmula","twitter_site":"@shmula","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Uday Kawar","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/","name":"Kanban Flow as Nature Intended","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2010-04-19T12:46:41+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-01T20:21:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd"},"description":"illustrating a kanban flow throught the natural Kanban of baby crying for food, how flow is enables by a variable flow nipple, no waste from push","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kanban-flow-shmula-baby-controls-milk-flow.jpg","width":450,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/kanban-flow-pull-and-crying-babies\/2010\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lean Manufacturing","item":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Kanban","item":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean\/kanban\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Kanban Flow as Nature Intended"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/","name":"OpEx Learning","description":"Lean Six Sigma. Simplified.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd","name":"Uday Kawar"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}