The visual workplace and lean are two distinct yet complementary tools that can improve work processes, make work easier, and reduce costs. Lean is a series of tools that can be used to reduce cycle time, eliminate wasted motion, minimize errors, and simplify work processes. The language that supports the lean transformation is the visual workplace. Gwendolyn Galsworth, creator of the visual workplace, defines it as "a self-ordering, self-explaining, self-regulating, and self-improving work environment-where what is supposed to happen does happen, on time, every time, day or night." The visual workplace accomplishes this by using visuals such as labels and signs to communicate important information throughout the workplace.
When used together in a thoughtful, strategic way, they create a workplace where positive change is not only repeatable but also sustainable.
The visual workplace provides many benefits to businesses. These benefits include:
To this end, McKinsey Global Consulting reports that lean has a shelf life of only three to five years without the stabilizing capability of visuals. Afterward, lean begins to erode, and with it, the benefits of quality, speed, and pull. Galsworth calls the relationship between lean and visual the visual-lean? alliance. Each requires the other to reach its potential and provide the greatest benefit.
Let's look at a prime example of how Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and the visual workplace work together.
When lean is deployed as a system, it takes on every aspect of the organization and drives out waste- from purchasing and receiving to design and fabrication, in offices and on the production floor. The methods in the lean tool box are designed to search out and destroy inefficiency and ineffectiveness on all operational levels. TPM, for example, focuses on equipment. It focuses on improving the effectiveness of equipment, based on your company's needs.
TPM accomplishes this on many equipment levels. Some involve your maintenance department but others require engineers, purchasing, field staff, and operators to participate as well. Well-known sub-targets include:
Another key element is autonomous maintenance, which requires operators to undergo special training so they can perform routine maintenance as part of their work. This includes learning how to spot problems or potential problems before breakdowns occur. Any issues are reported to the company's maintenance staff.
Shigeo Shingo, master practitioners and co-architect of the Toyota Production system, once said, that people forget, and more importantly they forget that they forgot.
This is where visuals become critical. No matter how well-trained or well-intentioned, people need assistance from visuals to help them consistently remember their tasks. Visuals can help operators:
This process begins when operators take the information that is often hidden in binders or someone's head and draw the info out to make it part of the workspace. They translate the previously hidden information into visual standards, placing them at or near their point-of-use. These standards help change the pattern of work and include:
With just a glance, operators can tell if the pressure is OK, where they need to lube equipment, and when they need to add more oil to the machine. The information, hidden in complicated charts and manuals, has been transformed and made part of the work space. The result? Workflow is streamlined, procedures are followed, and mistakes and errors are eliminated. TPM is sustained.
Every visual should be designed to provide information where it is lacking. To accomplish this, every visual solution should take several things into account:
Duralabel' array of DuraLabel printers, labels, and signage can help you make lasting visual solutions. Labels and signs help indicate what things are and where they belong, as well as provide essential safety information throughout the workplace. Some common uses include:
Remove uncertainty and help improve workflow by ensuring workers can quickly find the information they need. With the Visual Workplace implemented, time is no longer wasted looking for information that may be hidden. Information is at the point-of-use, where companies, employees, and eventually the consumers, need it most.