A kanban circuit models the path of kanban material flows within a production environment, from acquisition to use on the shop floor. You must define at least one kanban circuit for each kanban-controlled part.
The two components of a circuit are the location at which the part is used and the replenishment source, which can be another location, a location group, a production line, a supplier, or an external inventory site. Each circuit contains two sets of kanban quantity information: the existing, or current, kanban quantities, and the planned, or new, kanban quantities. You can update the new quantities for planning purposes as conditions change.
You can use kanban circuits to calculate kanban quantities, to generate kanban cards, and optionally, to execute inventory transactions.
The status of a kanban circuit shows whether the circuit is active and controls the types of activities that you can perform. The status can change during either the planning or the execution phase. The planning phase allows you to adjust quantities without affecting the actual production environment. There are four possible statuses for a circuit:
| Status | Description |
| Inactive | The default status for a new kanban circuit. Kanban planning and calculations are allowed, but kanban cards cannot be created. No execution activity, e.g., report production or request replenishment, is allowed. You can change the status to Active; doing so generates kanban cards automatically using the current values. |
| Active | The normal status for a circuit that is in use. Kanban calculations are allowed. You can change the status to either Inactive or On Hold. If you choose Inactive, all kanban cards that have been printed or are in circulation are set to Obsolete. If you choose On Hold, you must assign a reason code showing why execution was suspended. |
| On Hold | Suspends execution temporarily for an active circuit. No electronic replenishment is allowed and kanban cards are not deleted. If you change values for planning purposes and release the On Hold status, the status will change to Recalculated. If values are unchanged and you release On Hold, the status will change to Active. You can also choose to make the circuit Inactive, in which case all cards are made Obsolete. |
| Recalculated | Kanban calculations have been performed, and quantities, i.e., Qty per Kanban, No of Kanbans, Reorder Point Qty, or Lot/Transfer Qty, are different from those now in effect. You can either undo or accept the system's calculations. If you undo the calculations, the system transfers the current values to the new values and changes the status to Active. If you accept the calculations and any of the values in Qty per Kanban, Reorder Point Quantity, or Lot/Transfer Qty have changed, the system marks as obsolete all kanban cards that have been printed and are in circulation. If you accept the calculations and No of Kanbans has changed, the system adds the appropriate number of kanban cards or shows the number of cards that should be removed from the circuit. |