Lean Retailing

Implementation of Supermarket KANBAN in Lean

Retailing

Lean Retailing
Lean retailing is an approach to re-inventing retail business
practice by using new information technologies to cut out
waste and generating more profit to the firm.

Objectives of Lean Retail

Using pull system for replenishment of stocks
Removing bottlenecks throughout the supply chain
Reducing :

Effort
Time
Material wastage

Movement

Retail
Front end
It comprises of the area where consumer interaction
takes place, basically the shops.

Back end
Supply chain management, sourcing and inventory
comes into picture here.

KANBAN in lean retail

Kanban is Japanese for visual signal or card.
The systems highly visual nature allows teams to
communicate more easily on what work needed to be done
and when.
It can be applied in lean retailing for the purpose of
monitoring the stocks both on the shelves in the store and
in the warehouse.

 The main objective of kanban system in retail is to deliver

what does the store needs and when it needs it.
Kanban system is used as a demand signal which
immediately propagates through the supply chain for
immediate replenishment.

Advantages of KANBAN
Reduce inventory and product obsolescence
Flexibility
Focus on continuous delivery
Reduction of unnecessary movement
Team members ability to focus

Application of Kanban in retail

Card KANBAN is used in supermarket system in which a critical
replenishment limit is set for each category of merchandise
and whenever the level of merchandise reaches the critical
level, a specially color coded card is displayed as Kanban signal.
Kanban cards are widely used in warehouse and store room
which are the back end of retail.
The person who is taking the product is required to maintain
the bin cards and accordingly display the coloured card as
applicable.

Electronic Kanban
Helps to eliminate common problems such as manual entry
errors and lost cards.
It can be integrated into (ERP) systems, enabling real-time
demand signaling across the supply chain.
It uses technology to replace kanban cards with barcodes and
electronic messages.

 In retail, it is implemented in computerized billing retail

outlets.
A minimum level of required merchandise is set and whenever
a consumer buys a product, automatically the quantity of
product which is purchased is reduced from the available
amount.
The moment the present quantity reaches the minimum set
level, a color code will appear along with the merchandise
name with the amount of products left.

An E-Kanban example
Head & Shoulders
Dettol soap
Colgate
Surf excel
Dark Fantasy
Dairy Milk
Gillette Gel
5 Star
Sunsilk

15
10
40
20
38
21
6
27
37

Kanban system of MORE outlet

It uses e Kanban for information exchange between
warehouse and store room.
Visual inspection is carried out at the end of business hour
on a daily basis.
Category staff is responsible for proper arrangement of
remaining merchandise on the shelves.

 No kanban card is used for communication between the

shop floor and store room.
There is no critical replenishment point for the merchandise
displayed on the shelves. It solely depends on the category
staff experience as when to fill the shelves again.

Today most of the organized retail chains use e Kanban as a

support system for their inventory management. E.g- Big
Bazaar, Hypercity, Easyday, Star Bazaar, Reliance Fresh and
all the leading apparel retail chains like Shoppers Stop and
Pantaloons.

References
http://www.build-to-order-consulting.com/Lean%20Retailing.htm
http://leanman.hubpages.com/hub/Kanban
http://books.google.co.in/
www.leankit.com
www.kanbantool.com
http://strategosinc.com/kanban_1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban
www.smallbusiness.chron.com
http://help.sap.com/

THANK YOU!

Kumar Rahul
Manish Kumar