An Overview on Visual Management 

A picture of industrial activities is provided through the use of visual management, a communication technique.Visual management aims to translate production statuses and shop floor procedures into simple visual overviews.Think of it as the scoreboard for manufacturing. The performance of a plant may be understood by the entire team with only one glance.

Visual Management Types:

• Using Factory Layout for Visual Management: Factory design frequently uses visual management. Workflows and cell design are made more understandable with the aid of visual management tools like the FIFO lane.
• Utilizing Tools and Parts for Visual Management: Kaizen foams and shadow boards are used in this type of visual control. Similar to shadow boards, kaizen foams feature outlines punched out for each distinct tool.
• Marking-based Visual Management: This type of visual control uses labels and markers all over the shop floor. Government regulations govern the majority of shop floor labeling and marking practices in order to protect workers there.
• Data displays for Visual Management: To highlight KPIs, this type of visual management places digital information displays all throughout the work floor. Dashboards and Andons are the names for these types of displays.

Featured Visual Management Activities:

• Transparency in processes: The production process can be managed visually to increase process transparency. There is less need for hierarchical communication between subordinate and supervisor as a result of increased manufacturing process openness.
• Discipline: Visual aids can be utilized to consistently follow the right procedures. A manufacturer's workforce is persuaded to uphold process standardization throughout the production cycle by constant interaction with visual management.
• Job Facilitation: When completing routine tasks, the use of visual aids enhances cognitive and memory function. Utilizing visual cues in the workstation, such as shadow boards, eliminates the need for non-value-added activities like tool seeking.
• Occupational Training: On-the-job training is made easier by visual management since information about the production process is easily accessible.

The advantages of visual management: 

Visual management has the potential to significantly increase the effectiveness of industrial operations when used consistently and on a regular basis. Among the advantages are:

• increased process effectiveness
• decreased waste (for all of the 8 wastes of lean)
• safer processes
• Keeping inventory in line with production needs
• increased team involvement

Conclusion

In many manufacturing shop floors, visual management can offer a cheap and efficient way to improve information flow. In addition to preserving the integrity of production quality, easy access to production data can also be utilized to increase productivity and support training.

For training courses in the same topic,  check our Visual Management training course