Lean Kanban Pull System & Little's Law

Industrial & Systems Engineering

How It Works

Lean manufacturing pull systems regulate factory workflow by restricting Work-in-Progress (WIP) using visual Kanban circulation signals. Downstream demand triggers upstream production only when downstream buffer capacity is freed, eliminating overproduction waste. Little's law establishes the mathematical relationship between WIP, cycle time, and production throughput.

Governing Equation
WIP = TH · CT  |  N_kanban = [D · L · (1 + S)] / C