Considered the lifeblood of lean manufacturing, Visual Management can be seen as the link between data and people, and a perfect methodology for obtaining excellence.
By communicating without words, visual management uses many forms of visual cues to make succinct, accurate information within a workplace available at all times to those who need to know it. A perfect, very simplified example of this is normal everyday life is a set of traffic lights. If the light is red, you can not go, if it is green you can. Based on a simple color change, we can make a decision and act upon it.
Within a factory, a similar colored system is regularly used throughout multiple reference points. One such example is Andon which we have discussed previously on LinkedIn, which replicates this red, orange, and green code for machinery performance, but further, visual controls can also be powerful in maintaining quality and safety, and importantly, none of them require interpretation to understand.
Often displayed on boards or digital screens, the snapshot of ‘Factory Overview’, ‘Performance’ or ‘Cleanliness’ for example shows in an instant the status of each aspect of the business. It is non-confrontational, but alerts all staff, regardless of seniority, to potential issues or bottlenecks in key areas, and therefore empowers everyone to work towards a solution and ultimately a culture of continuous improvement.
Visual management also builds trust amongst teams and demonstrates transparency as it removes the distance between management and other levels of workers. Information is not hidden, and the whole company is united on the same goals.
One company using a host of visual controls is auto plastic specialists ADIS Tachov s.r.o. Visible throughout their manufacturing, operational, assembly, and office spaces, the instant visual stimuli helps to identify potential problems, reduce waste, reduce production costs, shorten lead times, create a safe working environment and deliver quality products consistently.
If you’re looking for injectionmolded parts, get in touch with the team at adistachov.cz to arrange a guided tour and enjoy the opportunity to visit their sites and see visual management firsthand. And the best part - being so seamlessly integrated, once you see it, you’ll need no explanation or reasoning to understand it!
