The system automatically creates kanban cards for a circuit when that circuit becomes active or a new calculation is accepted. Each card is uniquely identified by a system-generated card number and can be either Replenishable (the default) or Not Replenishable. Replenishable cards continue to cycle through the circuit until they are made Surplus, Removed or made Obsolete. Not Replenishable cards are used only once and are issued in response to an unexpected increase in demand.
The type of card created varies according to the replenishment source for the circuit:
| Replenishment Source | Card Type |
| Location, Location Group, External Site | Move/Refill |
| Production Line | Production |
| Purchasing Supplier | Supplier |
At any time, a kanban card can have one of the five statuses listed in the table below. These statuses, in conjunction with kanban card reports, provide the tools to manage the printing, deployment, and collection of kanban cards on the shop floor.
| Status | Description |
| New | A newly generated card not yet in use on the shop floor. |
| In Circulation | A card that has been deployed to the shop floor and is in active use. |
| Obsolete | A card that has been made obsolete because of changes in fundamental information, e.g., Qty per Kanban, Lot Size, or Reorder Point. Each obsolete card must be collected and removed. Only printed kanban cards that have their quantity recalculated will be made obsolete after accepting the recalculation. |
| Removed | A record of a card that should no longer be in circulation on the shop floor. You can delete this record unless you want to keep it for a historical record. |
| Surplus | A kanban card that has been removed from circulation, but may be put back in circulation later. |
There are two classifications of obsolete kanban cards:
| Classification | Description |
| Replenishable | A kanban card, printed on durable material, that is designed to be reused within a circuit. Normally, kanban cards are replenishable. |
| Nonreplenishable | A temporary kanban card inserted into a circuit to deal with a one-time occurrence, e.g., an unexpected spike in demand. This type of card should be replenished once and then removed from the circuit. It is always created manually and cannot be replenished electronically. |
When accepting kanban card calculations, the system adjusts the kanban cards as necessary. If any change had been made to the quantity per kanban then the cards that have been printed are made Obsolete, the excess cards are made Surplus and new cards are generated to meet the increased demand. If the changes were only made to the number of cards, then the excess cards will be set to the Surplus status, the Surplus cards will be changed to the In Circulation status due to the increased demand, and new cards will be created if Surplus cards do not exist for the increased demand. Cards with the New status must be deployed before they can be used, in which case their status changes to In Circulation.
First, the calculation looks for New cards and makes as many of them Obsolete as is necessary to restore the correct number of cards. If any additional cards must be deleted, the system displays the appropriate negative number in the Cards to Add/Subtract field in the Cards tab of the Kanban Circuit page. If the cards are replenishable, you may need to remove them from the shop floor, change their status to Removed, and replace them with newly generated cards. If you have no interest in keeping a history record, you can delete these cards from the system.
You can either print all kanban cards for a circuit or, if necessary, print individual cards that have been lost or destroyed. The system tracks whether and how many times a card has been printed. To track and locate the cards that are currently in circulation, run a kanban audit report, which can include not only text but also the bar code for each part.
For supplier kanban circuits, it is possible to report received goods with or without a pre-existing purchase order, depending on the type of the supplier kanban. Possible supplier kanban reporting options are:
You cannot receive kanban cards against purchase order (PO) lines with the requisitioners OE, WO, DOP, SO, PD, PRJ or PLD. To avoid receiving on purchase orders that are pegged to other demands, it will not be possible to receive kanban cards against purchase orders that are created for another kanban card, which are linked through the electronic kanban history.
The valid status for receipt on PO lines are: Released, Confirmed, Arrived and Received. The PO line with the earliest planned receipt date should be used first. If two or more PO lines have the same planned receipt date, the PO line with the lowest quantity is selected first.