[PDF] heijunka box - JMAC Europe

What is a heijunka box?

The heijunka box makes it easy to see what type of jobs are queued for production and for when they are scheduled. Workers on the process remove the kanban cards for the current period from the box in order to know what to do. These cards will be passed to another section when they process the related job. An example of a Heijunka box.

What is heijunka production leveling?

Heijunka is often referred to as production leveling in the United States, but the two terms have the same goal: reducing unevenness in production by avoiding batching, which results in smaller inventories, lower capital costs and less overburdening of employees.

Why are Kanban cards placed on the heijunka box?

Coloured cards representing individual jobs (referred to as kanban cards) are placed on the heijunka box to provide a visual representation of the upcoming production runs. The heijunka box makes it easy to see what type of jobs are queued for production and for when they are scheduled.

What is heijunka & why is it important?

The goal is to iron out issues like overproduction, or batching — which has the added benefit of minimizing waste, reducing labor, maximizing inventory space, and reducing production lead time. Or, to use Lean terms, heijunka reduces mura and muri, both of which together create ‘muda’ (waste).