Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M3629

Kanban

Kanban
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28

CORE DEFINITION

Kanban (Japanese: かんばん [kambaɴ] meaning signboard) is a scheduling system for lean manufacturing (also called just-in-time manufacturing, abbreviated JIT). Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyota, developed kanban to improve manufacturing efficiency. The system takes its name from the cards that track production within a factory. Kanban is also known as the Toyota nameplate system in the au

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Kanban (Japanese: かんばん [kambaɴ] meaning signboard) is a scheduling system for lean manufacturing (also called just-in-time manufacturing, abbreviated JIT). Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyo

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Kanban: Use a visual board to manage flow, limit work in progress, and use pull-based production to continuously expose bottlenecks and reduce inventory.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/1

Practice this model in one real situation:

Check to track your progress (stored locally)
Learning progress0%
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Source support: Explicit

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