Hello everyone, I've been a little off my game for a week or so and failed to have any backups ready. Oh well. Here we are again. As one of my big approaches to quality systems is simplicity, I wanted to go over visual management. I've tied it to five (5) specific tools/ideas we have in the quality world. I'll briefly talk about the correlation and you can decide which one you like the best. Read on!
The Visual Factory & Visual Management
It means exactly what is seems. Simple visual mechanisms to help manage the operation. Hint: it doesn't have to be a factory. We can approach the roots (and even ways to get going) of this in a few ways. I have chosen five concepts I find useful to visual management.
- 5S
- Standard Work
- Deming Point Five: system refinement
- Deming Point Seven: modern leadership
- Communication
5S: Standardize & Sustain
Visual tools in the working space should be developed. Developed = standards. I highly recommend the people who will deal with the tools are elbow deep in the development. If you're bringing in color codes for part types, get consensus, test it, standardize it. I'd suggest high contrast for things on the floor too.
Sustain is a leadership & ownership piece. The best visual tool is useless if no one uses it. Leadership must encourage and reinforce maintaining the visual systems. Give feedback, take ideas and run them for people. I've personally found this most effective when we enable and define ownership in each area to the people who work there.
Standard Work
Just because you have processes...doesn't mean you have standard work. Visual management isn't just some whiteboards with charts, tape on the floor, and colored stock bins. The combination of those parts with process and well understood flow. Standard work is a group of elements rolled into one. Visual tools are a component of this -an important component.
Leverage your visual tools to simplify your standard work structure. Refine your simpler processes into checklists. Put flow templates for your work onto the tables. Color codes on jigs. Color code sections of forms based on who (department) fills them out.
Deming Point Five
Deming's 14 points can be leveraged towards visual management too. Continuous improvement is one mechanism related to visual tools. Make the first one, test it, try it, fix it, try again. Your CI structures are potential treasure troves for visual management/factory tools. Nurture them. I mentioned a few directions to go above going over standard work. Visual management should produce additional inspiration to spread it through your company, don't scrimp!
I wrote a post, perhaps you read it about this point here: link.
Deming Point Seven
Leadership is a great place for visual tools to start. Leaders are responsible for getting this, and other initiatives going. they have to keep them going. If you're a leader, start with visual tools in your areas. I bet you own some KPIs, let's get some visuals about those. Are they actionable? Can you point to what should improve or continue from each KPI? I bet a flowchart would get you there. Let's try one. Your chart should illustrate some places where front-line visual tools can be placed. Charts? Jigs? Idea boards? Effective leadership is the key to success, get going.
I wrote a little about this a few weeks back, check it out here: link.
Communication
I didn't pull this one of a reference book. I pulled it out of the many times, some of them my fault, where communication has been a problem. Visual tools are so great because we are trying to make the message better. Whether it is a status board on the shop floor, a simplified process checklist, or a quality objective status display. Seek to communicate clearly and simply. Facilitate "at-a-glance" understanding. Save your people time in training by removing complexity wherever possible. Seek to communicate with the highest level of efficiency you can. Remember, we never get time back. The better you communicate, the less you take away.
Visual Management & Start. Somewhere.
Start. Somewhere. is about simplicity and action. Visual management is a simple way to present information, communicate, facilitate standardization, refine process, and lead. Visual tools are often easier to get started with. You don't need a complicated run board or floor management display right away. You can start simply, color code production lines maybe. If you do metrics, simplify your categories and color code them. Put KPI data where people can see it. Teach them how it fits into what they do. Work out some if/then relationships for your KPIs. Do the same for one line and test it. Have a small run board near the test line.
I have observed good visual management tools where the entire quality system was complex and refined, I've seen it facilitated well where the quality manual is about two pages long. The most important component of this tool is for you to START.
If you would like to explore visual management or other quality system tools, smash the START button above, or book a consultation below. I can help you make your systems better whether you have a mature system or no system at all. I can help you Start. Somewhere.
