If you want lean production for your manufacturing, visual management tools and visual controls are a must. No doubt we’re living in the fast-paced age of social media. It’s 2024, and people’s attention spans have significantly declined. Nobody would like to read a tedious and lengthy text that tells them what to do.
Instead, use visuals for your manufacturing process. As proven by science, the human brain interprets visuals more easily and swiftly. It can be a great way of conveying particular messages to members of your production team. If something is off, you can simply send a message to the people involved, and they’ll rectify the mistake ASAP.
But how do these visual controls actually work? Is there a real-life example of such controls that everyone can understand? And above all, how can you, as a business owner, leverage these controls to your advantage? In this concise guide, we’ll not only answer these questions but also provide practical examples and step-by-step guidance on how to implement and use visual controls effectively in your manufacturing process.
What Exactly are Visual Controls?
Visual controls and visual management tools are two terms that can often be used interchangeably. So, we’ll use the term visual control for the rest of the guide.
Starting with the basic definition, visual tools are management tools and techniques used to convey information, monitor processes, and maintain standards within an organization or agency. You can do all this through visual cues and signals. They are designed to make information easily accessible, understandable, and actionable by anyone within the workplace, regardless of their level of expertise or experience.
Benefits of Visual Controls:
There are many perks and benefits of visual controls, as follows:
- They are straightforward, simple, and easy to interpret at a glance. With visual controls, complex and intricate information can also be passed on understandably.
- Visual controls provide immediate feedback on the status and performance of processes or systems.
- With visual controls, you can use visual indicators for different aspects of operations, thereby standardizing processes and procedures.
- Everybody working in the environment can understand the visual controls, regardless of their culture or language. You can also get shorter lead times with visual controls.
- They also promote accountability by making performance metrics and targets visible to all stakeholders. Consequently, they are beneficial for quality checks.
- Visual controls can benefit your business by spotting any problems or faults instantly. They reduce waste and production costs and add more digits to your revenue.
Real-Life Example of Visual Controls | How Do They Work?
As aforementioned in the perks of lean visual controls, they work through standardizing decision-making. Let’s take a real-life example to understand this. When you spot a traffic light, you see what color the long pole shows. In other words, the color of the traffic light helps you to decide whether to stop the car or pass by. A vehicle passing through the red light will be deemed to be abnormal.
Likewise, visual controls are used everywhere in our day-to-day lives. In subways, you spot color-coded lines, which help make confident decisions. Similarly, there are various signs you spot along the road. Emergency exit signs are also found in buildings, and the list goes on.
Types of Visual Controls | How Can You Use Visual Controls for Your Business?
Now, let’s take a practical approach and see how you can incorporate lean visual management into your business.
Andon Lights
Andon lights are often used in various processes for real-time monitoring and problem identification. In case something goes wrong, one individual can contact the entire team through and on lights and inform them of the issue. The management team takes swift action and rectifies the problem. The Andon lights are often activated manually through a push button.
For example, in a manufacturing process, a particular machine can malfunction. If the process isn’t stopped, a lot of faulty products will be produced, which will lead to revenue loss. Andon lights can be used here to stop the manufacturing process. The management team will address the issue and resume the process once everything is good again.
Standard Work
Sometimes, there are multiple approaches to a specific process. However, only one of these ways is the most reliable and cost-effective one. However, the recurring single approach can often dull an employee’s skills. Standard Work offers a structured framework for employees at every level. This framework enables employees to optimize their efficiency by driving the best results out of their skills.
We can learn a lot from the Toyota Production System here. It consists of 4 levels of standardization as follows:
Content
At this level, the members debate and agree on the steps involved in the process. Unnecessary steps are also dropped down to make the process more swift, efficient, and cheap.
Sequence
The agreed steps are then put in a sequence. This is crucial for a consistent outcome, thereby ensuring discipline in the workspace.
Timing
There is always a specific period that a person takes to complete a particular task. If this time is known, the workspace can also benefit by balancing that specific task with other tasks to create level production. This level is also essential to create realistic deadlines.
Outcome
Last but not least, the task’s expected results are unambiguously decided with regard to quality, safety, and output parameters.
Color Coding
This is the easiest way to convey a message through visual controls. Each color denotes a specific action, and it allows employees to proceed with the processes. Having a color-coding incorporated into your workspace ensures a smooth flow of processes, discipline, and productivity.
You can see color coding dominating across various departments, like floor markings, office documents, or color-coding shadow boards for tools. Similarly, you can also use a visual board to communicate through color coding. The boards are changed punctually, and each employee is informed of their subsequent proceedings or actions.
Floor Line Marking & Signage
You might have seen various hazard marks in your library or near a power plant. Similarly, the sign boards along the road give you the necessary information about speed limits, intersections, speed breakers, etc. These are all included under the category of floor line marking and signage.
This method of visual management lean manufacturing can be used in processes to ensure everyone follows a specific pathway. It also becomes a seamless manufacturing process with minimal interruptions.
Kamishibai Board + Tee Cards
Everybody knows the frustration of forgetting a specific task. But with the Kamishibai Board, you don’t have to worry about that ever again. This lean visual control was first introduced for the Toyota Production System. The Kamishibai Board can tell employees whether a particular task has been fulfilled or not.
There are two primary colors involved: red and green. Green cards show that everything is going smoothly and according to standard procedures. When a green card is displayed in a column, it shows that everything is on track and operating as expected.
On the contrary, red cards are an indication of abnormalities, problems, or deviations from standard procedures. A red card on the Kamishibai Board means that there is an issue that requires attention or corrective action. This could be a machine malfunction, quality defect, safety hazard, or process inefficiency.
Furthermore, this two-color card method for visual management lean manufacturing also provides information about the following:
- Whether the board is in use or not
- If the process is going according to the correct sequence
Bottomline:
In a nutshell, lean visual management and lean visual controls completely change how various processes work. The traditional way of carrying out processes is often marked with multiple problems, but with visual controls, you can ensure discipline in your workspace.
Everybody can easily understand these visual controls at a glance. Not only does it make communication more meaningful and fun, but it also assures that every person, regardless of their culture and language, follows the instructions.
