2-BIN Kanban solution

Bev - I haven't looked at MSCM in a while, but I don't believe there is a solution for Kanban. The last time I looked at this for a client they thought about setting the par up as if it was an Exchange Cart, but I think that was more for tracking the cost.

You might set up the item in the par location as a box (pack, case, etc.) instead of as each and only reorder when the entire bin is empty. So, instead of (for example) 8 each of your item in the bin, you set it up as 1 box and you instruct your folks to only count the bin when it's empty.

If you use 1 double sided bin for your item, you could set the par to 2 and when 1 side is depleted (and you flip the bin around) and enter a count of 1 (box) and the system would reorder what you need.

Bev,
My first comment would be Kanban systems were pre-automation processes. That is, the point of the Kanban, whether a card or empty bin, was to alert the responsible person that it was time to reorder the product. The offset to making sure you never ran out of product is that you had the holding cost of a full "bin", essentially the equivalent to safety stock, sitting behind the active bin. In its ideal, the purpose of counting pars, is to make sure you carry just enough to get you through the next count cycle, minimizing the holding costs. So, philosophically, I would counsel against a Kanban/MSCM hybrid.

That said, if you are set on Kanban, we have had a few creative affilaites that worked Kanban into Lawson, just not with MSCM. The smoothest involved actual bins that had barcodes afixed to them. When the bin was empty, it went to the warehouse to be filled. Once filled, a storeroom person would create an RQ10 Requisition for the par/requesting location. Once the header was completed, the person would scan the barcode with a wedge scanner attached to the computer. At its most stripped down, the barcode could be encoded to have the following "ALawsonNumberQuantityUOM" which would get you a RQ Line. With a little finesse, you could have it add the line to the requisition and reset for the next line. Depending on the level detail you wanted to encode, you could have multiple labels that would have to be scanned sequentially to make a complete line entry.

Another area that I have investigated is the IC38 (Bin Reorder Policy) screen(s). In this case, I always think of an example as being copier/printer paper--received by the pallet, and issued by the case and the ream. The IC38 allows for the "ream" bin to be replenished by the "case" bin. It is possible, though I did not look into it, that you could have two bins of the same UOM. I don't think this meets your requirements, though, as this is two perpetual inventory bins, not par location bins.

Hope that helps,
Red