What is Kanban?

I was tasked with improving the safety and efficiency of a small manufacturing facility. With this goal in mind, I have been doing a lot of research and reading on a variety of related subjects. All these Japanese terms and strategies can get overwhelming and confusing. While there are thousands of articles and guides online, it seems that very few of them give a good, clear explanation of what they are and how they can be used in a real, practical way.

For example, I get that Kanban is a ‘signal board’ but what is it really? How is it used, what benefits will it bring? Is it worth my time to really dig into this concept?