{"id":22430,"date":"2017-03-12T19:56:04","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T00:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=22430"},"modified":"2021-11-14T22:47:13","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T03:47:13","slug":"how-to-implement-kanban-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Implement Kanban Cards"},"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<figure id=\"attachment_22451\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22451\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card.jpg\" alt=\"Example of simple kanban card at offices of Lean Enterprise Institute\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card.jpg 500w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22451\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Example of simple kanban card at offices of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leanblog.org\/2010\/04\/how-a-simple-office-kanban-system-works\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lean Enterprise Institute<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h1><strong>How to Implement Kanban Cards<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Kanban is a popular and powerful workflow visualization tool, and one of its main selling points is its simplicity. While the design of your Kanban system is important, one crucial factor that sometimes doesn&#8217;t get the attention it deserves, are the actual Kanban cards.<\/p>\n<p>When you look at the Japanese meaning of the word Kanban, you&#8217;ll find out that it means either card or visual signal. This means that the cards are the actual namesake of this tool, which contains all the relevant information about what to do next. This is different than a kanban board, used to manage tasks in a project or office setting using sticky notes.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What Is a Kanban Card?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Kanban\u00a0cards are a visual signal used to communicate that action is needed. When you encounter a card in your process, it means some action is needed to take place. On the card is written specific instructions about what to do. If the actions are completed, then the process continues to operate correctly. If the card is ignored, then problems arise over time.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a good example of a simple kanban card system. At the Lean Enterprise Institute offices, they have a supply cabinet for tea. When the tea runs low, a card signals that more tea needs to be ordered. The card contains the relevant information to re-order more. There is enough time between the last box of tea and how long it takes to re-order more, so that they never run.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.leanblog.org\/2010\/04\/how-a-simple-office-kanban-system-works\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read the entire example of kanban used for office tea boxes on Mark Graban&#8217;s blog &gt;&gt;&gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Standard Key Features of a Kanban Card<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As mentioned above, the most important job of the Kanban card is to make vital information easily accessible. It needs to be visual and easily comprehensible, so the team members that look at it would be able to infer as much of the data it represents at a single glance. On top of this, it should include additional details, so important information will be readily available to everybody.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Front Side of the Kanban Card<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The front side of the Kanban card is what everybody sees at first glance, so it needs to include the most crucial information. It needs to communicate what&#8217;s essential without being cluttered. This can also be done through color coding, where each card color represents a different task or responsible person.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing that the card cannot go without is a name of the task or activity it represents, such as &#8220;Call customer and request shipping approval&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, it usually includes the name or names of people responsible for it, and how long they have to complete the task. It might also include the batch size to perform the task (such as &#8220;group of 3&#8221; but ideally all tasks are done one at a time).<\/p>\n<p>If the cards are part of re-ordering items, it might include part numbers, cost centers, ID numbers, location\/department, supplier name, customer name, number of cards in the system, etc. These should be the most relevant information for the person needing to take an action.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Back Side of the Kanban Card<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>While the front side of the card needs to make vital information readily available, the back side might include things that are important that don&#8217;t need to be visible at all times. Very often the flip side of a Kanban card is reserved for\u00a0more detailed instructions, if the front of the card isn&#8217;t sufficient. It might reference a procedure number, a checklist of tasks to complete, a contact person to ask if there are questions, or any other information that doesn&#8217;t fit on the front of the card. Not all kanban cards have information on the back, so this is optional.<\/p>\n<p>Here is an example of a kanban card used to signal that more left-handed smoke-shifters need to be re-ordered from Acme.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 665px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/9\/96\/080527-F-0000A-001.JPG\/220px-080527-F-0000A-001.JPG\" width=\"665\" height=\"370\" class=\"\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy <a href=\"https:\/\/cerasis.com\/what-is-kanban\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">Cerasis<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Want to learn more about kanban cards? Check out an <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/about-peter-abilla\/what-is-kanban\/\">introductory video\u00a0from Gemba Academy &gt;&gt;&gt;<\/a><\/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>How to Implement Kanban Cards Kanban is a popular and powerful workflow visualization tool, and one of its main selling points is its simplicity. While the design of your Kanban system is important, one crucial factor that sometimes doesn&#8217;t get the attention it deserves, are the actual Kanban cards. When you look at the Japanese [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5916,"featured_media":22451,"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":[650,16],"tags":[1146,1149,1174,1173,1175,1193,1194,1192],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Implement Kanban Cards -<\/title>\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=\"How to Implement Kanban Cards -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How to Implement Kanban Cards Kanban is a popular and powerful workflow visualization tool, and one of its main selling points is its simplicity. While the design of your Kanban system is important, one crucial factor that sometimes doesn&#8217;t get the attention it deserves, are the actual Kanban cards. &gt; When you look at the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/\" \/>\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=\"2017-03-13T00:56:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-15T03:47:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OpEx Learning Team\" \/>\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=\"OpEx Learning Team\" \/>\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\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/\",\"name\":\"How to Implement Kanban Cards -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-13T00:56:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-15T03:47:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/882e7fc64614365d5c9d5bac490c5cc5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":375,\"caption\":\"Example of simple kanban card at offices of Lean Enterprise Institute\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/#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\":\"How to Implement Kanban Cards\"}]},{\"@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\/882e7fc64614365d5c9d5bac490c5cc5\",\"name\":\"OpEx Learning Team\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Implement Kanban Cards -","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":"How to Implement Kanban Cards -","og_description":"How to Implement Kanban Cards Kanban is a popular and powerful workflow visualization tool, and one of its main selling points is its simplicity. While the design of your Kanban system is important, one crucial factor that sometimes doesn&#8217;t get the attention it deserves, are the actual Kanban cards. > When you look at the [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/","og_site_name":"OpEx Learning","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula","article_published_time":"2017-03-13T00:56:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-15T03:47:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":375,"url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"OpEx Learning Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@shmula","twitter_site":"@shmula","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"OpEx Learning Team","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/","name":"How to Implement Kanban Cards -","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card.jpg","datePublished":"2017-03-13T00:56:04+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-15T03:47:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/882e7fc64614365d5c9d5bac490c5cc5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/LEI_tea_reorder_kanban_card.jpg","width":500,"height":375,"caption":"Example of simple kanban card at offices of Lean Enterprise Institute"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/how-to-implement-kanban-cards\/22430\/#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":"How to Implement Kanban Cards"}]},{"@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\/882e7fc64614365d5c9d5bac490c5cc5","name":"OpEx Learning Team"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22430"}],"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\/5916"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22430"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32871,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22430\/revisions\/32871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}