How does kanban work in American companies?

The just-in-time system consists of several manufacturing practices including kanban, which is the backbone of JIT because it serves as a manufacturing information system. Impressive results have been reported with kanban but mainly in Japanese companies. This survey examines how kanban works in American companies and discusses three issues critical to kanban implementation: choosing an appropriate class of JIT system, determining an appropriate implementation timing of kanban along with several JIT practices, and choosing an appropriate implementation method.