Visual Controls: Applying Visual Management to the Factory

An effective visual communication system can help manufacturing employees eliminate significant waste from daily tasks. From work-zone color coding to posted metrics, visual controls clarify and simplify the path to enhanced processes and profits.

Leaving little to chance, Visual Controls: Applying Visual Management to the Factory provides a detailed explanation of how to apply the Lean principles of 5S to convert your factory to a fully functioning Visual Workplace. It covers the range of methods that collectively compose an effective visual management system and clearly explains management's role in creating a Lean strategy to accomplish the transformation. This book:



Considers visual Kanban, material replenishment, and the implementation of a visual maintenance department
Details management's role in implementing and sustaining a visual factory
Covers the range of visual tools—including tool boards, shadow boards, metrics communication boards, and tool check cards


From plant layout and department setup to visual tools and parts, this book facilitates the comprehensive understanding required to initiate positive change through visual communication. The authors supply authoritative insight on how to hasten the required cultural changes, as well as step-by-step instruction for creating visual shadow boards. They also highlight time-tested methods for measuring progress and performance with improved accuracy.

Chris Ortiz is the president and founder of Kaizen Assembly, a Lean manufacturing training and implementation firm in Bellingham, Washington. He has been practicing Lean for over 12 years and speaks around the country at trade shows and manufacturing expositions. He is the author of Kaizen Assembly: Designing, Constructing, and Managing a Lean Assembly Line (Taylor & Francis, 2006), Lessons from a Lean Consultant (Prentice Hall, 2008), Kaizen and Kaizen Event Implementation (Prentice Hall, 2009), and Lean Auto Body (Kaizen Assembly, 2009).
Kaizen Assembly has been featured on the show Inside Business with Fred Thompson that aired on CNBC and CNN Headline News. Chris is frequently featured in manufacturing trade magazines including Industrial Engineer, Industrial Management, Collision Repair Magazine, Metal Finishes, Assembly Magazine, and dozens of other industry-recognized publications. He has been trained by the John Costanza Institute of Technology in “Demand Flow Technology” and by the Georgia Institute of Technology for ISO 9001: 2000 Internal Quality Auditing. He is also a member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.
Murry Park is the founder of MRP ONE, a manufacturing consulting company located in Mount Vernon, Washington. As a 26-year veteran of manufacturing, Murry’s service has spanned roles from entry-level engineer to vice president and general manager to senior Lean consultant. His professional experience includes working with companies from various industries ranging from electronics to metals and aerospace to seafood and from small privately owned companies to larger publicly traded corporations across North America.
Internationally, he has observed and analyzed production processes in Argentina, Belgium, Italy, Japan, and Canada. Murry’s professional experience began in 1983 when volume batch processing was still considered vogue in American manufacturing. However, struggling with the realities of such an approach, he quickly recognized the merits of such new concepts as 5S, setup reduction, one-piece flow, and kanban, as he came to understand and apply them. Seeing immediate and dramatic improvements from every implementation, Murry became a lifelong student—and teacher—in the pursuit of sharing these concepts and methods with others. He has led countless improvement activities and has watched as serious value-adding enterprises embraced a culture of continuous improvement based on employee participation, thereby also enjoying the benefits that followed.

Importance of the Visual FactoryThe Common Ground of Production Environments People Processes Engineering Changes, Expediting, and Nonconforming Product Inventory The Bottom Line—Making Information AccessibleManagement’s RoleThe Basics of the Visual Factory: 5SVisual Factory LayoutVisual ToolsVisual Parts and SuppliesVisual Maintenance and Total ProductiveMaintenance BoardsVisual Communication

The Basics of the Visual Factory: 5SThe 5S’s Sort Set in Order Shine or Scrub Standardize SustainLet the 5S Event Begin 5S Day 1: Sort 5S Day 2 and Day 3: Set in Order and Shine 5S Day 4: Standardize 5S Day 5: Beginning to Sustain5S in Maintenance DepartmentsTips for Sustaining 5S Create an End-of-Day Clean-Up Procedure Conduct a Daily or Shift Walkthrough Establish a 5S Audit Sheet Create and Maintain a 5S Tracking Sheet Develop a 5S Incentive Program

Visual Factory LayoutThe Legacy of Factory LayoutsVisualizing Your Visual Factory Actualizing Your Visual Factory General Guidelines Addressing Waste when Planning the Visual FactoryOverall Sequence for Creating a Visual FactoryLayoutThe Four Basic Conditions of Value-AddingProcesses Value Is Being Added Process Is Being Reconfigured (Setup or Changeover) Planned Stoppage Unplanned StoppageVisual Inventory Feed Materials and Consumables Purchased Inventory WIP Finished GoodsLaying Out Support Functions Common Area Direct Support FunctionsIndirect Support FunctionsBack to Your Future Factory Layout

Visual ToolsVisual Tool Boards or Shadow Boards Tool Board Materials Designing and Constructing a Tool Board Personal Tools: Dilemma or Solution? Tool Check CardsPositioning Tools OverheadRight-Sizing

Visual Parts and SuppliesInventory Basics When We Use the Term Inventory, What Specifically Are We Talking About? Why Is Having More Inventory than What Is Needed to Support Customer Demand a Bad Thing? Why Does Your Company Carry Its Existing Levels of Inventory? Is It Possible to Drive Down Inventory Levels without Putting Production and Shipping Commitments in Jeopardy? What Role Does a Visual Management System Play in Achieving a Reduced Inventory Level?A Few General Points on Supply Chain Management The Role of Manufacturing Software Systems Current Global Trends Receiving InspectionA Tour through the Ideal Stockroom Materials Common Area Stockroom Entrance Unloading Dock Receiving Inspection Area Main Stockroom Stockroom Layout ConsiderationsInventory Reduction Strategy 5S and Kanban 5S in the StockroomReplenishment: Kanban and Two-Bin Systems

Visual Maintenance and Total ProductiveMaintenance BoardsThe Role of Maintenance Common Misconceptions First Responder Impact of Product NonconformitiesTotal Productive Maintenance—An Overview The Three Approaches to TPM The Three Levels of TPMImplementing TPM and TPM VisualsCross-TrainingVisual Layout for the Maintenance Area Creating a Common Area Common Area Layout Maintenance Layout on the Production Floor Maintenance 5S Visual Tool Boards Name TagsMaintenance Consumables and KanbanOverall Equipment EffectivenessThe Maintenance Manager

Visual CommunicationsFacility Performance Sales On-Time Delivery Productivity Quality Safety EnvironmentalMetrics Communication Boards at the ProductionLevelProduction Control BoardsCommunication LightsLean Procedures