Kanban Replenishment
Pull-system replenishment board — four columns track each material card from the point it needs ordering through receipt into the production area.
Overview
Kanban Replenishment implements a lean pull system for production materials. Instead of pushing stock to the floor on a fixed schedule, cards represent a standard lot of a specific material. When stock falls to or below the reorder point, the card automatically enters the To Order column — signalling that a replenishment order must be placed. The card progresses through four visual columns as the order is placed, shipped, and received.
Stock Level Bars
Each card shows a progress bar that fills proportionally to current stock relative to 2× the reorder point. Bars turn green (above reorder), amber (at/near reorder), or red (below minimum).
Drag-and-Drop Columns
Cards are fully draggable between columns. Grab any card and drop it onto a different column to update its status instantly. The target column highlights while a card is held over it.
Add, Edit & Delete Cards
Add new kanban cards via "Add Card". Edit existing cards (min, max, lot size, location) via the pencil icon. Delete a card via the trash icon — a confirmation prompt appears before deletion.
Purchase Order Link
When a card moves to Ordered, a purchase order ID is generated and shown on the card. This serves as the reference for the Purchase module.
Receive by Scan
Clicking "Receive Stock" on an In Transit card opens a quantity modal. Enter or scan the received quantity to add it to current stock and move the card to Available.
Quick Start
- Open Kanban Replenishment in the Inventory Operations sidebar.
- Cards in the To Order column need replenishment — their stock has dropped to or below the reorder point.
- Click Create Order on a To Order card. The card moves to Ordered and a purchase order ID is assigned.
- When the supplier ships, drag the card from the Ordered column and drop it onto the In Transit column. The card's status updates immediately.
- When the shipment arrives, click Receive Stock on the In Transit card. Enter the received quantity and confirm — the card moves to Available and current stock increases.
- To add a new material to the kanban system, click Add Card and fill in the card settings modal.
- To remove a card that is no longer needed, click the trash icon on the card and confirm the deletion prompt.
Refresh after receiving
After clicking Receive Stock, the card updates immediately. Click Refresh in the toolbar to reload all cards from the server if you suspect another user has made changes concurrently.
Kanban Card Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Product Name | Human-readable material name displayed prominently on the card |
| Part Number | Internal part number or SKU shown below the product name in monospace |
| Location | Warehouse aisle and bin where this material is normally stored (e.g. Aisle 3, Bin 12) |
| Card Quantity | The standard replenishment lot size — how many units one purchase order should cover |
| Current Stock | On-hand quantity; shown numerically and visualised in the progress bar |
| Min Stock | Absolute minimum — stock should never fall below this level |
| Reorder Point | Trigger level — when Current Stock ≤ Reorder Point, the card enters the To Order column |
| Status | One of: to_order / ordered / in_transit / available (drives column placement) |
| Purchase Order ID | Auto-generated when Create Order is clicked; shown on the card in the Ordered column onward |
Stock Level Bar
Each card shows a horizontal progress bar below the current stock number. The bar's width represents current stock as a fraction of 2 × reorder point (capped at 100%). The bar colour changes based on thresholds:
| Condition | Bar colour | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Current Stock < Min Stock | Red | Critical — stock is below the hard minimum. Immediate action required. |
| Current Stock ≤ Reorder Point | Amber | Replenishment needed — card should be in To Order or already ordered. |
| Current Stock > Reorder Point | Green | Healthy — sufficient stock for current production demand. |
The bar also shows two tick-mark labels below it: Min and Reorder with their numeric values, so stock levels are always interpretable at a glance.
Add / Edit Card Modal
Click Add Card (top toolbar) to create a new kanban card from scratch. Click the pencil icon on any existing card to edit it. Both actions open the same modal with the same seven fields. New cards start with status available — manually change the status if the material is already below reorder point.
Setting reorder levels
A good starting rule: set Reorder Point = average daily consumption × lead time in days. Set Min Stock = safety stock (typically 1–2 days of demand). Set Card Quantity = economic order quantity or supplier minimum order quantity.
AI Assistant
Click the AI Assistant tab anchored to the right edge of the screen to open a chat panel with full context on every kanban card — product, part number, location, column status, current stock, min stock, reorder point, replenishment (card) quantity, and any linked purchase order. It surfaces stockout risk, triages the To Order column, flags misconfigured min/reorder points, and helps you prioritize what to order first.
Example Prompts
- "Which cards are at or below their reorder point?"
- "Summarize everything sitting in the To Order column"
- "Which cards have been ordered or in transit the longest?"
- "Do any cards have min/reorder points that look misconfigured?"
Save as Report & Add Knowledge
After the assistant replies, a Save as Report button stores the response in My Reports with an auto-generated title. Use Add Knowledge in the input dock to attach documents so the assistant can reference your replenishment and safety-stock policies.
FAQ
status field. Cards enter To Order when stock falls at or below the reorder point AND the status is set to to_order. In a future release, automatic status transitions will be triggered by consumption events — for now, a planner should review cards after material consumption is recorded and manually set status to to_order via the edit modal if needed.po_<timestamp>) and stores it on the kanban card. In a future integration this will also create a formal purchase order in the Purchase module. Currently the PO ID serves as a reference number for the purchasing team — they manually create the order in Purchase → Purchase Orders and note this ID in the reference field.