Tag: visual factory

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Visual Management

Harnessing the Power of Visual Management: Elevating Workplace Efficiency and Effectiveness

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced and dynamic work environments, effective communication, organization, and efficiency are paramount for businesses to thrive. One powerful tool that has gained prominence in achieving these goals is visual management. Visual management utilizes visual cues and indicators to enhance productivity, streamline processes, and foster a culture of transparency and accountability.

From Kanban boards to performance dashboards, visual management techniques offer numerous benefits for organizations. In this blog, we will delve into the significance of visual management in the workplace and explore why businesses need it. We will discuss how visual cues can improve communication, the impact of visual indicators on organization and efficiency, and practical insights on implementing visual management techniques effectively.

1] Understanding Visual Management
Visual management is a methodology that utilizes visual cues, such as charts, graphs, color-coding, and other visual indicators, to convey information, track progress, and facilitate decision-making in the workplace. By presenting data and information in a visual format, it becomes easier for individuals and teams to comprehend, analyze, and act upon.

Visual management can take various forms, depending on the specific needs and processes of an organization. Kanban boards, for example, provide a visual representation of work stages, allowing teams to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and allocate resources efficiently. Performance dashboards, on the other hand, offer visual metrics and indicators that enable quick assessments of performance and facilitate data-driven decision-making.

2] The Benefits of Visual Management
a. Improved Communication: Visual cues provide a common language that transcends barriers of language and comprehension. When information is presented visually, it becomes easier to grasp complex ideas and concepts. Visuals can simplify complex data sets, highlight key points, and present information in a digestible manner. This clarity of communication reduces misunderstandings, improves collaboration, and fosters a more efficient workflow.

b. Enhanced Organization: Visual management techniques help in organizing tasks, projects, and workflows. Kanban boards, for instance, allow teams to visualize the flow of work, from initiation to completion. By using visual indicators such as cards and columns, teams can easily track progress, identify work priorities, and allocate resources accordingly. This visual representation facilitates a better understanding of the overall workflow and ensures that tasks are completed in a timely and organized manner.

c. Increased Efficiency: By providing a visual overview of processes, visual management enables teams to identify inefficiencies and optimize workflows. Visual indicators, such as performance dashboards and metrics, allow for quick assessments of individual and team performance. Real-time visibility into key metrics and indicators helps in identifying bottlenecks, addressing issues promptly, and making informed decisions. By continuously monitoring and analyzing visual data, organizations can identify areas for improvement, streamline processes, and enhance overall efficiency.

d. Transparency and Accountability: Visual management promotes transparency by making information visible to all stakeholders. When key metrics, goals, and progress are presented visually, it creates a sense of transparency and fosters a culture of accountability. Team members can see their contributions and impact on overall performance, which encourages ownership and a commitment to achieving shared goals. Visual management tools facilitate collaborative problem-solving, as team members can easily identify and address any issues or roadblocks. Moreover, visual indicators help in measuring individual and team performance, facilitating fair evaluations and recognition.

3] Implementing Visual Management Techniques
a. Identify Goals and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Begin by defining the objectives and metrics that are critical to your business. This will help determine the visual indicators and tools required to monitor progress effectively. Consider key areas such as productivity, quality, customer satisfaction, and cycle time. Set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals and identify KPIs that align with them.

b. Choose Appropriate Visual Tools: Select visual management tools that align with your organization’s needs and processes. Kanban boards, Gantt charts, performance dashboards, and visual displays are among the popular options. Think about things like usability, scalability, accessibility, and compatibility with your current systems. Choose tools that provide the level of visibility and customization required to meet your specific requirements.

c. Design Clear and Engaging Visuals: The visual cues and indicators should be designed in a way that is easily understandable and visually appealing. Use colors, symbols, graphs, and other visual elements strategically to convey information effectively. Ensure that the visuals are regularly updated and reflect real-time data. Engage your team in the design process to ensure that the visuals resonate with them and facilitate comprehension at a glance.

d. Train and Engage Employees: Providing training and guidance to employees on how to use visual management tools and interpret visual cues is crucial for successful implementation. Educate your team on the purpose, benefits, and best practices of visual management. Encourage active participation and involvement in the process, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Regularly communicate the importance of visual management, address any concerns, and provide ongoing support as needed.

e. Monitor and Evaluate: Regularly assess the effectiveness of visual management techniques in achieving your goals. Continuously monitor key metrics and indicators to track progress and identify areas for improvement. Solicit feedback from employees to understand their experience with visual management tools and make adjustments as necessary. Regular evaluation ensures that visual management remains relevant, impactful, and aligned with your evolving business needs.

Conclusion
Visual management is a powerful tool that brings clarity, efficiency, and accountability to the workplace. By leveraging visual cues and indicators, businesses can improve communication, streamline processes, and drive overall productivity. From Kanban boards to performance dashboards, visual management techniques provide a visual language that transcends barriers and facilitates decision-making. By implementing these techniques effectively, organizations can foster a culture of transparency and accountability, ultimately leading to improved outcomes. Embrace visual management in your workplace and witness the positive impact it can have on your team’s performance and success.

VisualMitra is a renowned expert in visual management consultancy, specializing in helping organizations harness the power of visual cues and indicators to optimize their workplace efficiency. With years of experience and a deep understanding of visual management principles, VisualMitra offers invaluable expertise in implementing visual management techniques tailored to the unique needs of each organization. Their team of consultants excels in guiding businesses through the process of identifying goals, selecting appropriate visual tools, designing clear and engaging visuals, and training employees for successful adoption. VisualMitra’s comprehensive approach ensures that businesses not only grasp the importance of visual management but also gain practical insights and strategies to implement visual management effectively. By leveraging VisualMitra’s expertise, organizations can transform their workplaces into visually driven environments that promote transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement, leading to enhanced productivity and success.

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Visual Factory

Visualizing your Business – Create a Visual Factory.

Visual Factory at Visualmitra

Industries where factories are involved are always hectic workplaces where several processes are running at once. A specialized approach to visual management and Lean concepts is needed in these industries since there is such a strong emphasis on productivity, efficiency, safety, and sustainability. This helps to guarantee that operations operate smoothly while maximizing output.

In order to build a new standard of work, it can be challenging to strike this balance because every department, team, process, and measurement must be scrutinized to ensure that inefficiencies, errors, and restrictions are minimized. The visual work environment’s objective is to make everything self-explanatory. Clarifying progress, priorities, and standards will make them immediately obvious. By doing this, ambiguity about the way the task is being done and its state is avoided. Open communication is another aspect of lean. Even for suppliers and consumers who visit the work floor, no issues will be ignored. Everything is exposed and clear.

Why Visual Factory is a must?

The phrase “visual factory” is being widely used since it refers to a method of raising productivity and efficiency levels throughout your manufacturing operation and most probable reason being the safety. What exactly is a visual factory and how does it operate is the query. We’re giving you some helpful advice in this blog that will enable you to turn your work environment into a visual machine.

The information flow is changed by visual factory by reducing the size of the data bits and making them simpler to process. Most people learn more quickly from straightforward pictures than from a few sentences of text that briefly explains an idea. But in addition to learning more easily, they also typically pick things up more quickly. And for this reason, Visual Factory is a crucial component of the Lean methodology.

Visual factory is all about visual management which means Information is communicated visually using a variety of instruments, including message boards, safety posters, safety signs, floor markings, emergency evacuation plan, road markings, frames and panels for high-level signs, label holders, and information pockets.

Visual management is currently one of the most crucial foundations in the proper and successful application of 5S and Lean. You may easily use VisualMitra’s extensive selection of tools if you adhere to the Visual Factory philosophy. Let us have a look at some important reasons on why visual factory is required for you:

1] Each Department should be active visually
The entire idea behind a visual factory is to strategically deploy your visual management tools all across the space. These resources serve as visual clues that help team members achieve smooth work operations without any interruptions. It’s time to identify which types of visual tools will eliminate obstacles and restrictions if there are any areas of operations that continue to be slow or ineffective.

    The areas below can all be made more visually appealing to give you an idea of how this would be put into practice:
  • Walls (visual management boards, KPI, shadow boards, Safety posters and signs)
  • Floors (floor markings and freestanding stations for health and safety)
  • Machinery (signage and safety instructions)
  • Ceilings (pipe marking labels and hanging directing signage)
  • Vehicles (safety signs and instructional labelling) etc. and many more…

There’s always room to explore more and make your factory appealing.

2] Establishing work standards
Visual management system facilitates the creation of work standards by monitoring and displaying data about the job being done. For instance, you can establish a regular pace if the work that has been completed is plainly visible. The same is true if you document a process’ steps in a visual format; this is known as standardizing work.

3] Customizing your visual aids is must.
Every factory or every workplace has its own way to ensure effectiveness. Even though some of the visual management tools in your visual factory may be generic, many of them will need to be customized. For instance, cleaning stations, PPE boards, shadow boards, and visual management boards can all be made specifically to meet the requirements of each department. By doing this, visual information is condensed to just provide what each team’s current needs are and also due to customization your visual aids becomes an identity of your company.

4] Regularly update key figures
Visual management system must be updated frequently if they are to provide a significant return on investment. Your staff will always have access to the most recent data by adding and updating information as it changes and they can rapidly become familiar with how the department is operating.

An effective, productive, safe, and successful visual factory depends on accurate information which is possible through visual boards or informative boards, which is why we’re here to help you get the most out of your visual management tools with customized training and coaching.

5] Keep in mind the fifth ‘S’
We can achieve a productive workplace by following the five phases outlined by the 5S system: sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain. Many factories are able to implement the first four components, but they are unable to develop a sustainable system, which causes everything to finally revert to the earlier norms.

You may develop consistency and longevity by paying attention to how your visual factory functions. Training is crucial in this since your employees must feel comfortable using 5S and possess the necessary expertise to keep it running well.

6] Point out issues & Resolve issues
Visual management can be used to instantly alert people when something is incorrect. Automated systems for this can be extremely helpful for managers and employees alike because they free up time for other activities unless an issue is identified. When a problem is found, a signal is sent out so that they can swiftly address it before returning to their original task.

Problems can also be solved through visual management system. The problem will be resolved if there is a place or procedure in a facility where there is frequently confusion. Similarly, visual factory could prevent an issue from occurring in the first place by making it plain how to use a machine that workers frequently misuse.

7] Acknowledge future development
Your teams must continue to look for ways to streamline, improve, and enhance various processes even after the fifth “S” has been implemented. This calls for having a sharp eye for detail and being ready to make additional adjustments as and when necessary. Your organization won’t lag behind the constantly evolving needs of your customers, the larger industry, or your business if you incorporate the principle of continuous improvement into every aspect of your corporate culture.

What advantages does a visual factory offer?

By making data and information highly accessible and simple to understand, a visual factory avoids them from being secreted away on clipboards and inside computer systems. Consequently, you can consider the following advantages:

  • Empowered workers who constantly have access to the information they need.
  • Minimal interruptions, maximization of individual focus.
  • Improved productivity through increased efficiency.
  • Maximum production rates and product quality.
  • Increased standards of safety and health.
  • Tidy, well-organized work areas.
  • Employee responsibility for putting tools back where they belong.
  • Smoother collaboration boosts staff morale.
  • Being in compliance with Government rules and regulations or labour laws.

It’s your time to create a Visual factory.
Are you prepared to establish an effective, successful, safe, and extremely profitable visual factory? Contact our team and we will show you how to harness the power of visual management.

To give those few crucial bits of information and show them in a visual and understandable way at the correct process step, at the right time, and to the right person or team, a visual control system requires cross-functional planning and implementation. Visualmitra are experts in this field for past 22 years, you can have a look at our company brochure to know more about us and what have we done in the field of visual management.

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Visual Factory

Five Visual Factory Tips for your Workplace

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 mind

Sort, 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.

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Factory Visual Management Projects Fascility Visual Management

Creating a Visual Factory Using Lean Manufacturing and Visual Layout

Factories are always hectic workplaces where several processes are running at once. A tailored approach to visual management and Lean concepts is needed in factories since there is such a strong emphasis on productivity, efficiency, safety, and sustainability. This helps to guarantee that operations function successfully while maximising output.

In order to build a new standard of work, it can be challenging to strike this balance because every department, team, process, and measurement must be scrutinised to ensure that inefficiencies, errors, and restrictions are minimised.

Creating a Visual Factory from idea to implementation

The implementation of a Lean and Visual Factory requires various layout modifications and upgrades, thus it is not a simple cure. As with any other system, each component must be in perfect harmony with every other component because even one mistake can result in downtime, delays, waste, accidents, and major disruption.

A skilled group of visual and Lean management specialists is needed to build a visual factory because of the scope of the task at hand. They can evaluate your current set up, discover what’s lacking, and then assist you in creating a system that will enable you to become a world-class organisation.

What exactly is involved in creating a Visual Factory?

You invest in a combined workplace design and fitout solution that adopts a genuinely holistic approach when you use Visualmitra to assist you in designing a visual factory. We analyse which types of improvements will be made before deciding whether to implement a new build design idea or make upgrades to an existing facility.

Our design approach for Visual Factories

We start by conducting an evaluation at your factory. Our visual management specialists will discuss your goal with you and identify any obstacles standing in the way of achieving it. Once we understand exactly where you want to go, we use our skills in visual design and lean consulting to determine what needs to be done to help you create a lean, safe working environment.

We then develop an initial strategy with you and your design team that details which adjustments will be implemented and how they will improve regular operations. This highly accurate virtual picture provides a realistic sense of how your factory will operate and perform after the upgrades have been made. A plan that explains how your concept will be translated from digital designs to actual objects completes this.

The last step is putting these improvements into practice with our entire fit-out service, which involves designing, acquiring, and installing all of the visual components necessary for your factory to operate as efficiently as possible.

Design a visual factory using Visualmitra.

Are you prepared to build a lean, visually-driven factory? Call our team at 9324974251 or fill out our contact form to schedule an overview consultation that will show you how to fully utilize lean and visual management.

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Factory Visual Management Projects Fascility Visual Management

Create a Visual Factory with 5s system

The term “visual factory” refers to a method of lean manufacturing that incorporates visual data throughout the workplace. A visual factory employs a set of communication technologies to distribute information when and where it is required.


By answering inquiries, identifying equipment, products, and locations, describing activities and procedures, and offering safety alerts and preventive information, visual controls improve working environments. Visual tools also help employees be more productive by providing them with the information they need, when and when they need it.


How does a visual factory work?

A visual factory uses signs, labels, charts, info graphics, and other communication tools to communicate data in an effective manner as part of the lean manufacturing process. The time spent reading, digesting, and interpreting text-based instructions is cut in half when this information is presented graphically.

  • Procedures at work
  • The data that an employee requires in order to fulfill their duties
  • The general layout of the job site, as well as important access points (such as aisles, doors, and routes) where information might be useful to an employee
  • What a company aims to achieve by creating a visual factory

Employers should consider applying 5S, a lean manufacturing method that eliminates waste, promotes consistency, and fosters facility-wide organisation, while analyzing these areas. Visual order is one of the basic ideas of 5S methodology , making it an ideal tool for constructing a visual factory.


The next stage is to figure out how to share the data.


This is accomplished through a set of visual cues and systems that are tailored to the needs of a particular workplace. Among these are:

  • Visual Identification display boards give real-time information about the state of production (or a process) in a facility and warn workers when help is required.
  • Employees can use floor marking aids and way finding markers to locate paths, entrances, exits, navigational aids, and other instructions.
  • Inventory, storage, tools, and other critical resources are designated by signs and labels.

What are the benefits of Visual Factory?

Visual factories have a number of advantages across a facility, including:


  • Productivity and output have increased.
  • In complex surroundings, it’s important to have clear, simple directions.
  • A more secure workplace (given the clear, intentional visual communication)
  • Profits that are higher (due to more efficient processes)
  • Throughout a job process, there are fewer errors and less guesswork.

What are the solutions of Visual Factory?

Visual controls like safety posters, identification boards, labelling, signages are essential elements of a visually appealing workplace. Employees get the information they need through properly-placed visual displays and contribute to the company’s success through clear communication.


Visualmitra can help you create clear, effective personalized visual communication. You’ll find the right equipment to start or improve your facility’s visual. Health and safety managers use these signs and labels all over the world to keep workers safe, orient them around a job-site, and alert them to crucial information.

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Benefits Visual Management

Visual Management, A Magic at Workplace

In present scenario, every individual is spending around 60-70% of his/her time viewing various visuals either on computer/laptop screen or on mobile phone screen. Visual memory is many times effective than auditory memory. We all are experiencing the magic of visual management every now and then.

Let’s take an example. Mr. Joseph is a workman at assembly department. Company wants him to get trained on assembly operations. There are 2 ways of communicating the assembly instructions to Mr. Joseph.

  • Training/teaching at shop floor
  • Assembly work instructions in local language displayed on board.

It is obvious that Mr. Joseph is comfortable viewing the work instructions in 5 minutes rather than someone explaining him & spending almost 30 minutes. In case of displayed work instructions, there are many other benefits as compared to one-time training at shop floor. Benefits are listed below.

  • Availability: Pictorial work instructions are available for 24 x 7 throughout the year. Mr. Joseph can view it as many times till he is well conversant and expert in the operations.
  • Easy Modifications: Any changes in assembly operations can be easily communicated by modifying the work instruction.
  • Minute Details: The minute details can be covered while designing the work instructions which may not be every time possible through training on shop floor.
  • Standardization: The work instruction can be displayed at multiple places which may be found difficult in case of training physically on site.
  • Cost Effectiveness: The displayed work instruction is a cost effective solution rather than conducting multiple trainings.

Visual management is an effective media of communication by means of images, color’s and minimal text. Exclusive displays at appropriate locations at the workplace always bring in better culture towards Quality, Productivity & Safety performance enhancement. The displays at the workplace can be work instructions, standard operating procedures, policies, are identification boards, safety signs, safety posters on quality, productivity & safety, analytical boards, performance dash boards etc. All such effective displays offer following benefits at the workplace.

Benefits of Visual Management:
  • Cultural enhancement at the company
  • Awareness and clarity on Quality, Productivity & Safety specifications
  • Better presentation to customers and visitors.

The concept of “Visual Factory” is receiving recognition and appreciation by many good companies and corporates.

Visualmitra LLP, Mumbai based company is instrumental in creating awareness on visual management across industry more than a decade. Their services right from identifying the appropriate display to the actual installation at the workplace are appreciated by many OEMs and MNCs. Visual management is found to be effective media of communication irrespective of the size, nature and location of the organization. Let’s build the better industrial culture by means of effective visuals at shop floor.

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Factory Visual Management Factory Visual Management Projects Fascility Visual Management

What is the Concept of a Visual Factory ?

In countries like Japan, Singapore, Korea etc, you can experience the implementation of visual management to a great extent. Visual management is effectively implemented not only in industry but also at all public and private establishments. The direction boards on roads, safety signs at places, good motivational quotes across the country in the view of developing culture.

They are following this for past many years and really gained benefits with regards to creating of good culture and developing feel of responsibility as a good citizen of the country. We also realize it when we visit these countries. To our surprise, even a small child understands the messages communicated through effective signs displayed at the public places. Such effective visual management has helped all these countries to make people understand the duties of a good citizen. Here we need to think that if the visual management so effective and adding value in daily life, then what magic it can have if we effectively implement in our professional life i.e. at our offices, factories etc.

The concept of VISUAL FACTORY evolved after experiencing the positive impacts of the visual management in daily routine life. At factory, the most challenging task is to develop feel of responsibility and accountability at all levels irrespective of their nature of work & specific job profile.

Real life examples preach us that the reason for poor performance of an individual is not only the lack of competence but it is the individual’s mindset in most of the cases. There are many cases where the professional under performs just because of negative mindset in-spite of having good qualification and experience.

At any manufacturing plant/factory, the good mindset of each individual will make company win over its competitors. Developing a good team at the factory is not a simple task and it requires extensive training, routine monitoring and controlling.

Effective displays at the factory create a media of communication on several industrial parameters including Safety, Quality & Productivity. The awareness on these parameters make lot of difference in individual’s thinking and mindset for company’s progress. It is experienced that efficiency & productivity is always better in well maintained and managed workplace.

Use of visual management tools help in creating an ideal workplace where improved performance can be expected. The effective visual management is systematic identification & display of effective visuals including posters, signs, policies. Instructions, performance monitoring boards etc. The correct identification of visual tools adds lot of value in terms of effectiveness and towards creating an effective media of communication available 24×7.

All standard and professionally managed companies have adopted a concept of “VISUAL FACTORY” & are still continually improving upon. The small & medium enterprises are also understanding the benefits of this concept and trying to implement to a great extent.

Visualmitra LLP is a company based out of Mumbai, India offering its services to industries and business houses towards creating inspiring work cultures at the facilities. Many companies are availing services from Visualmitra LLP team which offers end to end turnkey solution towards creating inspiring work cultures at the facilities.