Definition
The Excel model that turns historical lead time and usage into inventory quantities and card counts through the kanban formula, in a basic and an advanced version; it also performs ABC analysis, produces reorder points and examines supplier lead-time performance.
In detail
The calculator exists because the formula returns fractions: rounding down risks shortages and rounding up adds inventory, so the courseware asks you to reduce safety stock first and then pick a container quantity that lands the card count on a whole number. Its value is not speed but transparency — the worse the supplier performance and the larger the variation, the more safety stock, and that chain is visible as a column. It needs plan-for-every-part data first (usage, lead time, container quantity); without complete data the card count it produces is only an assumption written as a number.
Example in practice
A part calculates to 3.4 kanban cards. The calculator shows that rounding up to 4 adds 0.6 of a bin's worth of inventory, so the team switches to a smaller container quantity, lands on a whole number of 5 cards and ends up with less average inventory.