Importance of Visual Management System in improving Workplace Effectiveness

As discussed in the change-environment-and-trigger-positive behaviour   Visual Management  System is one of the enablers to improve the workplace effectiveness and positive culture in the organization.

let us understand, what does it mean visual management and its components, application, and examples

What is visual management System?

Visual management is a concept of making the workplace more effective by making the condition or reality of workplace more obvious at a glance.

It exposes the waste or abnormality in the system so that waste or abnormality can be corrected or reduced instantly. 

It is not merely putting posters as a one-time effort, and it is a dynamic activity 

Components of visual management system:

It consists of 

1.Visual Displays
2.Visual Metrics
3.Visual Control

Visual displays :

Basically, it consists of labels, identification, instruction posters, displaying information.

It creates awareness or for educating the user about the place/ equipment/ process/facilities 

It can be in TEXT or in COLOURS to indicate relevant information to the user

Examples

Visual  Metrics :


Visual Metrics is one of the visual management systems in which emphasis would be more on to give information about Standard  Vs. Actual.

The purpose is to show 

the variance  or gap between standard vs. reality at a glance


This visual metrics brings down the subjectivity of the people on the information and also trigger the people to take action if there is variance between standard and actual.

Examples

Visual  Control :

Visual control is meant for creating error proof environment by adhering to the right way of doing the things

Examples

How to apply Visual Management System in the workplace?

As visual management system is a creative process and there is no end for improvements ideas. The more you bring your workplace with the visual management system, more transparent, higher the clarity among the team. It increases the engagement of the people.

However, we bring focus on the implementing visual management  effort  through the following steps

1. Identify the area where you would like to improve the visual management system
2. understand the problem in the selected area and decide what you would like to solve 
3. understand your audience or people background in the area and accordingly decide what components of visual management is required. Like visual display. Visual metrics or visual control.
4. Implement and make it dynamic in a sense, it needs to be updated periodically.
5. It would be more engaged, if the people involved in the work area, update the visual management.


As mentioned, Visual Management system is one of the simple, powerful, creative concepts that make people engaged towards continuous waste elimination or reduction in the workplace!

Managing Inventory with a holistic approach in Small,Emerging Organization

In most of the organization, Inventory is a concern for the business head.

When we say inventory, it consists of Raw Material *+ Work in Process (WIP)+ Finished Goods Inventory.

* It includes raw material used in product + consumables + spares for equipment also.

Why inventory is a concern ?:

1. Holding  and funding cost of stock is a burden on working capital as this could be used for something else
2. High  inventory occupies more space, need more handling and people deployment
3. Despite having high inventory, delivery actualization is not met on time, holding inventory adds fuel to the inventory cost, in turn, manufacturing cost

From a basic understanding of waste from a lean perspective, inventory is waste, and it is only a symptom. Inventory cannot be controlled or reduced at symptoms level as the inefficiency of all the manufacturing, supply chain, and order procurement process and effectiveness impact the inventory level.

Hence if you want to reduce or control inventory significantly, the causes have to be managed with a holistic approach. It calls for strategic as well as tactic management.

Given the factors affecting the inventory either in RM stage or WIP stage or FG stage.

Depending upon the industry, the factors may vary a little bit, but with our experience in many manufacturing industries, the following significant factors to be revisited for better inventory management.

1.Manufacturing factors
2.Engineering factors
3.Supply chain factors
4.Customer factors
5.Internal System factors

1. Manufacturing factors :

Most of the time, the WIP inventory primarily based on the lot size, changeover time, machine/plant capacity, reliability of machine/ plant equipment, the overall flexibility of the resources and the capacity imbalance among the process concerning customer's order pace or takt time.

when you want to reduce or control WIP, the above factors have to be revisited and re-engineered.

2.Engineering factors :

It includes the no of parts in the components, standardization among the parts and modular systems, Processes involved in manufacturing those parts and the stages involved in manufacturing either internal or external sources and so on

3.Supply Chain Factors :

This factor is more of the strategic intent of the organization on the supply chain design. It includes the no of the vendors for each part, their location, pricing factors, lead-time to supply, the reliability of the vendor base and so on

4. Customer Factors :

It is more of an external driven. However, management has a choice to drive. It includes the customer profile either tier1, tier2 or OEM, the location of the customer, demand pattern, and forecasting accuracy, no of products or product lines, varieties, and volume in each variety. Those factors govern the inventory of RM+WIP+FG 

5. Internal system Factors :

Irrespective of external factors and industry type, the discipline, and internal management processes govern the inventory to some extent. It includes Norm fixation for each commodity or part wise, budgeting, buyer accountability fixing, regular reviews, and management communication system among the team.



Inventory control without affecting the customer's order delivery is a continuous management effort and calls for a holistic approach.!

Definition of Waste in Manufacturing Setup

Waste in Manufacturing can be defined as follows

1. Useless or unnecessary  resource consumption or expenses

2.Use of  resources , but without adequate return 

1. Useless or unnecessary  resource consumption or expenses

For example , in a manufacturing environment , we will be running the machine or equipment for producing additional  or compensating for rejection etc ..In this case , we are running unnecessarily and the machine is used LESS


2.Use of  resources , but without adequate return 

For example, machine or equipment is operated , but we will not be getting the RIGHT output or RIGHT quality output .In this case, we are running necessarliy,but not getting the right return.

Waste is alternativly termed as "Non Value Added" activities.

Waste tends to be present in manufacturing or in service activities and the aim to completely eliminate the waste or reduce the impact as much as possible.