Payloads and overheads-data communications and kanban

The author explains how the kanban, or just-in-time, approach to manufacturing works. He then draw analogies with data communication systems and in particular asynchronous transfer mode and routing switches. These analogies are illuminating in that they show how alike the two disciplines are, and how they have arrived at similar solutions to similar problems. The author studies the differences between the two fields which could lead to communications engineers learning something from the ideas of manufacturing engineers, and vice versa