Leveraging Visual Management

 

Visual Management and the Production Control Board

I have encountered many clients who feel that managing visually was busy work. Sometimes management believes the electronic tracking system is visual management. And sometimes management has already decided that the staff members could not meaningfully impact the outcome, it was busy work to report progress on an hourly basis.

The specific tool I am referring to is known as a process control board. The process control board is designed to show variance from takt time. Takt time is a theoretical calculation the shows the relationship between the time available to do the work, and the volume of work. The inverse of this number yields units of output per hour. Regardless of the capacity of the process, variance from the takt time shows where the opportunities lie. An example of a production control board is shown below. 

As a Lean Leader, the question you want to ask is the following, "Is it helpful for the staff to understand the gap between actual and target performance"? If we are trying to create a culture of continuous improvement, then everyone needs to understand both the actual results and the targets. How else can the team help you achieve your goals?

So if we agree that everyone needs to understand the measures, planned, and actual performance, then why not measure this in real time. We can run a report, but it would be too late to impact the measure in any meaningful way. Anything the staff does to narrow the gap is favorable, but they must know the gap needs to be narrowed, and by how much.  What is the advantage of waiting on taking action?

The hour by hour process control board is designed to show the variance between plan and actual in real time. So I conclude that the completion of the process control board is not busy work! What do you think?

Lean Blessings,

Ron

President, Breakthrough Horizons Ltd

www.breakthroughhorizons.com