English▸ noun [mass noun] (also kanban system) a Japanese manufacturing system in which the supply of components is regulated through the use of an instruction card sent along the production line:
material should be pulled through the factory, using kanban.
▪ [count noun] an instruction card used in a kanban system:
the worker attaches a move kanban to the first pallet in the run and takes it away.
– ORIGIN 1970s: Japanese, literally ‘billboard, sign’.