Every department should have a visual component
The entire concept of a visual factory is that your visual management assets are uniformly distributed throughout the facility. These materials serve as visual indicators, allowing team members to maintain flexible procedures and workflow. If there’s an area of operations that’s still slow, clumsy, or unsuccessful, it’s time to figure out which visual tools will help break down those barriers.
The following areas can all be made more visible to give you an idea of how this would be implemented:
- Walls (visual management boards, shadow boards and signage)
- Floor coverings (floor markings and freestanding stations for health and safety)
- Equipment (signage and safety instructions)
- Ceilings are the highest point in the room (pipe marking labels and hanging directional signage)
- Automobiles (safety signage and instructional labels)
Your visuals should be customized
While some of the visual management tools in your visual factory may be generic, many others will need to be customized. Visual management boards, shadow boards, cleaning stations, and PPE boards, for example, can all be customized to meet the specific requirements of each department. Visual information is streamlined as a result, with each team receiving only what they need right now. This allows employees to complete more tasks in less time.
Regularly update key figure
Visual management tools must be updated on a frequent basis to provide a high return on investment. Your staff will always have access to the most up-to-date numbers and will be able to immediately familiarize themselves with how the department is performing if you upload and amend information as often as it changes.
We’re here to help you make the most of your visual management products through bespoke training and coaching. Accurate information is at the heart of an efficient, productive, safe, and profitable visual factory, which is why we’re here to help you make the most of your visual management products through bespoke training and coaching.
Keep the fifth ‘S’ in mindSort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain are the five steps in the 5S technique for creating a productive workplace. Many manufacturers succeed in putting the first four parts in place but fall short of creating a long-term system, causing everything to revert to past standards.
You may achieve consistency and longevity by focusing on maintaining the way your visual factory runs. Training is critical, since your employees must be confident in utilising 5S and possess the knowledge necessary to keep it running freely.
Embrace the concept of continuous improvement
Even when the fifth ‘S’ is in place, your teams must continue to explore for ways to streamline, improve, and reinforce a variety of processes. This necessitates a strong eye for detail as well as the willingness to make further modifications as needed. Your organisation will never fall behind the ever-changing nature of your business, its wider industry, or consumer demand if you implant a mindset of continual development across your company culture.
Let’s create a visual factory with Visualmitra
Visualmitra provides a Lean consulting service and bespoke visual management products to help companies decrease waste in all manufacturing processes, as well as an in-depth survey completed by our Operational Excellence Experts. For more information on how we may help you and to schedule a consultation, call 9820061281 or fill out our contact form.