{"id":46912,"date":"2024-04-10T12:44:25","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T17:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.projectmanager.com\/?p=46912"},"modified":"2026-04-28T14:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T19:39:07","slug":"kanban-inventory-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.projectmanager.com\/blog\/kanban-inventory-management","title":{"rendered":"Kanban Inventory Management: How to Run a Kanban System"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kanban is a visual tool that’s ideal for managing inventory flow. Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyota, developed it about three-quarters of a century ago. Kanban boards<\/a> helped the car company restock its inventory only when it was needed, and it was the revolutionary approach that helped Toyota grow so quickly.<\/p>\n

What Is Kanban Inventory Management?<\/h2>\n

Essentially, kanban inventory management is a way to have only the minimum amount of stock on hand that’s necessary at that time. This avoids purchasing more than you need and allocating space to warehouse that extra inventory. More than that, kanban<\/a> helps avoid bottlenecks in your workflow.<\/p>\n

Customers expect faster fulfillment than ever, especially with mobile access, yet supply chains are increasingly complex and often distributed across facilities. Having an efficient inventory management system is a competitive edge that few can afford to ignore, and a kanban inventory system can shave costs off your bottom line and give you that edge.<\/p>\n

ProjectManager is award-winning project management software equipped with powerful online kanban boards that can help with inventory control and order management across industries. In addition, ProjectManager<\/a> offers many other tools such as Gantt charts, project calendars, timesheets and real-time dashboards to help you manage projects and workflows, track costs, make timelines and monitor resource utilization. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.<\/p>\n

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ProjectManager’s kanban view helps organizations manage customer orders and inventories. Learn more<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To truly understand how a kanban inventory management system works and make one for your organization, you\u2019ll need to understand each element. Here\u2019s a quick overview of the main components of a kanban inventory system.<\/p>\n

Elements of a Kanban Inventory Management System<\/h2>\n

Kanban inventory control systems consist of a mix of physical elements such as shelves, storage bins, kanban inventory cards and kanban boards.<\/p>\n

2-Bin Inventory Warehouse<\/h3>\n

While it might sound simple, one of the most important elements of a kanban inventory system is two plastic bins that hold the same quantity of inventory items and are stored beside each other at a specific location within the warehouse shelves along with their corresponding kanban card.<\/p>\n

The objective of these bins is to control the inventory levels for these items and help employees easily notice whenever it\u2019s time to reorder them. If an employee empties one of the two bins as he uses materials, he\u2019ll need to take that empty bin along with its kanban card and place it on the kanban board, which indicates that the item needs to be ordered.<\/p>\n

Kanban Inventory Cards<\/h3>\n

A kanban card<\/a> is a physical or digital card that contains information about inventory items such as a description, an image, order quantity, supplier and many other details that will help employees distinguish from one item to another and locate them in the warehouse.<\/p>\n

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Get your free<\/p>\n

Kanban Card Template<\/h3>\n

\n\tUse this free Kanban Card Template for Excel to manage your projects better.<\/p>\n\t\t