ABSTRACT
First-in, first-out (FIFO) boards are used where work orders route jobs through various processes, making it difficult to know when a particular job will arrive at a particular process and, therefore, difficult to balance the workload at each process. This type of board helps manufacturers understand how much work is waiting at various processes so that they can rebalance manpower accordingly. When they have a machine that is the first process for some part numbers and a second, third, or fourth process for other part numbers, consider using a combined kanban and work-order board in conjunction with a FIFO board. When manufacturers combine these two boards, kanban cards and work orders are used to schedule all parts that begin their production sequence on this machine, and parts that have later operations at this same machine will be pushed into the FIFO lane when they are ready and are scheduled on the FIFO board.
