Lean Manufacturing & Operations worked example
Kanban Card Quantity with daily demand of 250 units/day: a worked example
This scenario runs the kanban card quantity calculation on the strong side: daily demand of 250 units/day, with every other input held at its documented default. Use this calculator when designing a kanban pull system to determine how many cards (signals) are needed to maintain flow without stockouts or excess inventory.
The inputs for this scenario
- Daily demand: 250 units/day (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 100)
- Replenishment lead time: 2 days (unchanged)
- Safety factor (1 + safety %): 1.1 x (unchanged)
Working through the calculation
- Applying the documented formula (Kanban Cards = Daily Demand x Lead Time x Safety Factor (then divide by container qty separately)) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
- At this operating point the engine returns 550 cards for total kanban inventory (units), the number this scenario is built around.
- At this operating point the engine returns 550 value for base product.
- At this operating point the engine returns 1 x for multiplier.
- At this operating point the engine returns 500 value for factor a x b.
How this compares with the baseline
- Against the tool's baseline example, where daily demand sits at 100 units/day and the headline result is 220 cards, this scenario comes in 150% above the baseline at 550 cards.
- Use it when standing up a pull system or resizing a loop after demand or lead-time changes. Treat this as a target state: the delta against the baseline quantifies what the improvement is worth before you commit to chasing it.
Results at a glance
- Total kanban inventory (units): 550 cards (headline result)
- Base product: 550 value
- Multiplier: 1 x
- Factor A x B: 500 value
Run it with your numbers
- Every input above is editable in the live Kanban Card Quantity calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.
Last reviewed 2026-05-12.