Kanban Boards for Project Management
Project managers use Kanban boards to simplify project management. Kanban Boards help address a series of key problems that can cause nightmares to professional project managers, being the most important:
- Resource allocation
- Work Flow Management
- Inefficiency
Leankit Kanban Kanban Boards offer the functionality and versatility to complement or reflect the existing project management tools. With such a diverse resource, the teams spend less time learning new systems and more time fulfilling objectives and improving the process.
Resource allocation
Project managers use Leankit to assign resources and assign work. By making certain resources be assigned in the most effective way, project managers can avoid delays and surpluses. Resources may include team members on the site, equipment outside the site, services and third -party systems.
The allocation of resources takes place in three stages:
- Create work elements
- Work assignment to team members.
- Collaborate with teams to prioritize work.
Once a project begins, evaluate the priorities routinely as part of its continuous efforts of continuous improvement. Kanban boards help guide this process so that every time a new project enters the workflow, correct resources are applied in the best possible way.
When not using Kanban
There are many online project management solutions, but each one has their own strengths and weaknesses. Kanban is no different. Here are some situations in which this approach may not be ideal.
- Kanban’s open nature makes them other other project management styles, which may require important settings for some equipment
- Adapting to less focused tasks can be a challenge, for example, if you are accustomed to a waterfall approach
- The Kanban process is intended to be adjusted and improved over time, so if you are the type of person who wants a strict structure that never changes, Kanban may not be adequate for you
Kanban to manage inventory
As a residential company of HVAC, the D Air conditioning Company performs quite simple projects;However, the number of projects that pass through the production system and the rapid response time of the projects creates a set of challenges that a Kanban system helps to solve. One of the biggest challenges before implementing a Kanban system was to make sure the warehouse was supplied enough with the supplies and equipment necessary for work. Having too many supplies is an extra waste and attempted cash. Not having enough material can cause a delay. In the past, missing items were often bought at the local hardware store. This remedy;However, you would add from 1 to 2 additional time without value added to the project and the price of these items was often 40% higher than our wholesale prices.
To solve this problem, we develop a ‘extraction -based’ system for inventory management using a Kanban visual system. The store has between 50 and 100 different items, so the system must be efficient, rapid and transparent. Articles in the warehouse are stored in a way that their physical presence or lack of them gives staff a sign of when to reorder the article. In Figure 1, you will see the small consumer items stacked next to each other. The amount of articles placed in the warehouse is based on the rate that we use the items and the delivery time of the articles of a supplier.
- Kanban visual inventory:
As a general rule, we replenish the stock of materials when it reaches less than 50% of the capacity we assign in storage. For example, in Figure 2 you can see two pictures for air filters. The boxes open to the side to reveal the inventory level. When a box is completely empty, this gives the store staff a signal to reorder the filters.
- Air filters like Kanban:
According to Sun Tzu, most of the battle already won before the battle 2 started . In construction, you can see if we have success or not, even before starting work on the site. A large part of the battle is to ensure that the correct materials are on the site for workers at the right time.
Kanban to manage customer consultations
The air conditioning company D has three points of sale in Orange County. To ensure that all offices are on the same page, the company uses a Kanban system for customer consultations, budgets and guarantee. When the client has a request that needs to be processed (that is, home estimation), the staff writes the customer information and consultation on a Kanban card. As the problem is solved, the card moves to the ‘finish board’. Cloud -based technology guarantees that everyone has access to the same information.
- Kanban system for customer consultations:
Kanban’s board helps the three offices visually see a list of work elements that must be processed. The Board guarantees that all customer consultations are answered once, by the right person, and in a timely manner. The process reduces the waste of communicating the work that must be done and makes the work transparent.
Kanban to manage RFI
Following the same process mentioned above, the company also uses a Kanban board to administer RFIs and presentations in its commercial projects. The RFI and the presentation are tasks that must be completed in a timely manner to avoid any delay in the project. Using the Kanban, the staff can download their thinking to a list of pending tasks and focus on executing one element at the same time . The Kanban board allows staff to prioritize their work and not forget any task. The company has been able to document the average response time of its RFI and establish objectives to reduce it.
CONCLUSION
The Kanban system allows the company: 1) Maintaining the correct amount of stocks in the warehouse, 2) monitorOrganization doing the work transparent processes, 4) eliminate unnecessary meetings, 5) have a clear visibility of the state of the operation, 6) measure how long it has been completed and 7) to develop a stability level in the production system that allows theStandardization and learning .
From a production perspective, we really only do 3 things: 1) Build and design the production system, 2) Maintain the production system in operation and 3) improve the production system. A stable system allows us to devote more time to improve the system. Many of Kanban’s properties help us achieve this goal.
In addition to the cases presented in this blog, a Kanban system can be used to administer: change orders, drilling list, quality control, material administration, training, incorporation, etc. I strongly recommend other organizations that use a Kanban system to visually administer their work processes
REFERENCES
- Wikipedia (2016). Kanban https: // in.Wikipedia.org/wiki/kanban
- Sun Tzu. Art of War.
- Atul Gawande (2011). The manifesto of the verification list: how to do things well.
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