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CMA Intermediate · Operations Management and Strategic Management · Lean Operations and JIT

A Hosur plant uses kanban. Demand is 480 units per day, each container holds 20 units, a container takes 0.5 day to cycle (production, transport, waiting, return) and the safety factor is 10%. Number of kanban containers needed = demand x cycle time x (1 + safety factor) / container size. How many kanbans are required?

The firm needs 14 kanban containers. Demand during the 0.5-day cycle is 240 units, which becomes 264 units with a 10% safety factor. Dividing by the container size of 20 gives 13.2, and since containers are whole, the number is rounded up to 14.

  1. A12
  2. B13Correct
  3. C14
  4. D27

Explanation

Demand during cycle = 480 x 0.5 = 240 units. With 10% safety = 264 units. Dividing by 20 gives 13.2, which is rounded up to 14 whole containers... but check: 264/20 = 13.2, so rounding up gives 14. Correct answer is 14.

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