1. Introduction
All work environment must have visual means that allow managers and managers of plant and processes, as well as company managers, to immediately know the status of the situation, likewise staff must have means to monitor permanently the state of situation.
A manager visiting the industrial plant must be able to visually and clearly and quickly recognize if the production plan is being met, if excess stock is being generated, if there are bottlenecks in the processes, if it is counted at each stage of the process with the necessary personnel, if there are quality problems and what are these, the level of order and cleanliness in the plant, if waste is being generated, what are these and in what areas and processes are they being generated. Before then, the operators must have a series of visual indicators to guide them in how well they are performing their tasks, in how effective and efficient the activities are.
In the plant anomalies of all kinds arise daily. The practice of visual management involves the clear display of problems, diagrams, lists and performance records, so that both managers and workers recognize what the objectives are and what results are being achieved, in order to be able to carry out the corrections in a timely and effective manner.
Problems must be made visible in the plant, if they cannot be detected, there will be no opportunity to manage the processes. Thus, the first principle of visual management is to highlight problems or abnormalities.
If a broken press die generates defective products and no one can see them, you will soon have a mountain of defective products. However, a machine equipped with self-control mechanisms (jidoka) will stop the moment a defective product is generated. Such stopping of the machine makes the problem visible.
This visual management can also be considered as a visual control. Such visual control must turn the infinity of abnormalities and forms of waste into something so clear that even an inexperienced person can recognize it.
2. Visual Management in the Five M's
In the workplace, management must manage the five M's, which are: labor, machines, materials, methods and measures. Any irregularity or anomaly related to the five M's must be visually detectable.
- Workforce. How is the mood of the workers? This can be measured by the number of suggestions made, the degree of participation in quality circles and the figures for absenteeism. What is the skill level of the staff? A board must expose such a situation. All this must be clearly exposed in such a way that the situation of a sector or process can be understood. Machines. How is it recognized when a machine is generating good quality products? The jidoka and poka yoke mechanisms detect abnormalities and stop the processes. How do you know if the lubrication levels are met, the frequency of change and the type of lubricant? They must be clearly stipulated for each machine at the place of operations. Materials.How do you know that materials flow normally? How do you know if there are excesses of materials, products in process or finished? The kanban allows to avoid the excess of production. On the other hand, the demarcated areas allow us to know if each material or product in process is in the corresponding place, and if it is below or above the expected level of existence. Methods. The different stages of the processes, the activities and their sequence must be graphed, as well as the times of each operation and of the process. Measurements should be clearly marked to show safe operating ranges. The levels of faults and deviations must be exposed, as well as their evolution over time. Monitoring processes guarantee the result. For best results, processes must be improved.
3. Visual Management of the Five S
A correct implementation and practice of the Five S makes anomalies visible, so that they can be corrected.
Firstly, the excess of unnecessary elements prevents the easy location of those that are necessary, hinders the passage of elements and people, does not allow a good control of the stock and the state of the machines and installations.
The lack of a correct ordering makes it difficult to detect tools, supplies and components. It also makes the movement of people and elements more difficult.
A good cleaning allows to detect the state and operation of the machines and installations.
The Five S's allow for better visualization of the workplace. Without a good application of Seiri, Seiton and Seiso (organization, order and cleanliness) it becomes more difficult to perceive how well organized, tidy and clean the workplace is, and the lack of cleanliness makes it difficult to detect machine problems. and facilities.
A good application of the Five S means that while the machines are in operation, they are generating good quality products.
4. Types of Visual Control
Visual control includes various application methods, each applicable to a different type of management problem. So while some methods help to identify waste, others help bring up latent problems to the surface.
- Red card strategy. Refers to the red cards used to mark all those elements considered unnecessary for the current activity. Signals strategy. These signs clearly show where in the workshop or office the tools, folders and other items belong, so that anyone can easily find them. They allow to detect assigned places in which the elements are not located or to find elements that are not correctly located. White marks. You can make use of tape or white paint to reinforce the order, marking roads, storage places and other areas. Red marks. These red marks are used on the shelves of warehouses, in a storage area for inventory in process,and other places of storage of stocks to indicate the maximum quantities allowed. Green marks. As in the previous case, but for the purposes of indicating the minimum levels of stocks. It serves to alert supervisors and staff in general of problems or anomalies in the processes. The andon is a visual tool that indicates the current status of operations in an area. There are four types of andon in factories. Call Andon, which light up to request supply of parts or supplies. Emergency Andon. They alert supervisors to line anomalies. Andon of operation. They indicate the current operating rates of the machines. And progress andon, used to monitor the progress of operations.Kanban.It is an administrative instrument that helps maintain the pull system and Just in Time production. The two main types of kanban are transportation and production kanban. They show the current conditions of the production lines. In addition to showing the estimated and current results of production output, they indicate the causes of line stops and different data related to operations. This keeps production line leaders or supervisors constantly informed of the pace in relation to the estimated volume. This involves always knowing if the lines go too slow or too fast. Standard operations graph. These help create easy-to-interpret graphical representations of work process and procedure layouts,among others. Display of defective elements. They are essential to become aware of problems in production, detect the causes and apply measures to avoid the generation of new defects. Error prevention board. They serve to make people aware of the mistakes made, so that the probability of repeating them is less. Visual Presentation in Balanced Scorecard. It quickly allows the different managers of areas and processes to monitor the progress of the company. By using different types of charts, it is possible to quickly detect the existence of anomalies or irregularities, not only in the production processes, but also in terms of sales, collections, cash flow, levels of customer satisfaction and users of products and services,management and operative personnel development. It is not about the printing and subsequent reading and analysis of extensive reports, but screen images that allow us to detect the progress of the company and the existence of anomalies. Example. If a level of income is planned up to that date in order to achieve a certain level of funds available for a later date, being within the expected parameters is indicated with a green signal, an important difference is reported with a red signal., and a possible level of problems with a yellow signal. In this way, the problem can be quickly detected, as well as enough time in advance to carry out actions that allow reaching the expected levels.It is not about the printing and subsequent reading and analysis of extensive reports, but screen images that allow us to detect the progress of the company and the existence of anomalies. Example. If a level of income is planned up to that date in order to achieve a certain level of funds available for a later date, being within the expected parameters is indicated with a green signal, an important difference is reported with a red signal., and a possible level of problems with a yellow signal. In this way, the problem can be quickly detected, as well as enough time in advance to carry out actions that allow reaching the expected levels.It is not about the printing and subsequent reading and analysis of extensive reports, but screen images that allow us to detect the progress of the company and the existence of anomalies. Example. If a level of income is planned up to that date in order to achieve a certain level of funds available for a later date, being within the expected parameters is indicated with a green signal, an important difference is reported with a red signal., and a possible level of problems with a yellow signal. In this way, the problem can be quickly detected, as well as enough time in advance to carry out actions that allow reaching the expected levels.If a level of income is planned up to that date in order to achieve a certain level of funds available for a later date, being within the expected parameters is indicated with a green signal, an important difference is reported with a red signal., and a possible level of problems with a yellow signal. In this way, the problem can be quickly detected, as well as enough time in advance to carry out actions that allow reaching the expected levels.If a level of income is planned up to that date in order to achieve a certain level of funds available for a later date, being within the expected parameters is indicated with a green signal, an important difference is reported with a red signal., and a possible level of problems with a yellow signal. In this way, the problem can be quickly detected, as well as enough time in advance to carry out actions that allow reaching the expected levels.In this way, the problem can be quickly detected, as well as enough time in advance to carry out actions that allow reaching the expected levels.In this way, the problem can be quickly detected, as well as enough time in advance to carry out actions that allow reaching the expected levels.
5. Conclusions
Both in Operations Administration and in traditional Industrial Engineering, visual management or control is not included in the bibliography, and therefore also not in teaching, and what exists is limited to Operational Research graphics. But there is no conception or philosophy of visual control, something that only recently began to be incorporated in western companies from the influence of Just in Time, Kaizen, Total Productive Maintenance and Lean Management. The Balanced Scorecard and the Dashboard came to cover only a minimal part of the existing problems in the companies.
Visual control allows whoever performs it to detect whether the tools and instruments that make visual management feasible are incorporated into a plant or company, and whether they exist to verify how well the entity's various processes and activities are working.
The implementation of the different tools for visual control makes possible more effective and efficient processes, which makes it possible to achieve lean companies.
There is no industrial or service activity or branch that escapes the application of visual management.
Thus, an automotive transport company for goods or people must have an interactive system with the units that allow real time to know: how many units are in a position to operate, how many are operating, where they are at the moment (easily controllable through GPS), which units are stopped along the way and the reasons, compliance with the distances traveled for the elapsed time. The question is, does the company you are diagnosing, or does your company own it?
In a hospital, are there means to permanently monitor the condition of the patients? Do you have andon type alarms to warn of problems with a certain patient or section?
In a bank, are the debts within the stipulated amounts, are collections up to date, are the required guarantees being fulfilled? If the systems are loaded and integrated in a central software, permanent monitoring is feasible. The main task of the internal audit will consist of verifying the veracity of the information registered in the system and the quality of the supporting elements.
Similarly, it is feasible to apply visual management to all types of activity. This may imply the use of a greater or lesser technological component, but the truth is that managers must be able to know the state of the processes quickly and efficiently.
6. Bibliography
- Five Pillars of the Visual Factory. Hiroyuki Hirano. TGP Hoshin. 2005.5S for everyone. Five pillars of the visual factory. Productivity Press Development Team. TGP Hoshin. 2005. Manufacturing competitiveness. Kiyoshi Suzaki. TGP Hoshin. 2000 Lean Manufacturing. Alberto Villaseñor Contreras and Edber Galindo Cota. Limusa. 2008.How to use the Balanced Scorecard. Robert Kaplan and David Norton. Editorial Gestión 2000. 2000.The Philosophy of Success. Hiroshi Shimasaki. Editorial Limusa. 1993.
