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Visual management is a management method designed to make information visible and accessible to all. Used to improve communication and performance within teams, it relies on visual tools to simplify the management of projects and tasks. At a glance, it enables you to track progress, identify problems and make decisions quickly, while facilitating collaboration and process optimization.

What is visual management?

Visual management is the visual representation of key project and process management information. Whether through tables, indicators or graphs, the aim is to simplify the transmission of important data for all team members. This method is often used to monitor project progress, identify potential problems and make informed decisions collaboratively.

Why is visual management important?

Improved communication within the company

Visual management improves the flow of information. By centralizing important data on visual aids accessible to all, it ensures fluid, immediate communication. Tables and graphs make information clear, eliminating the misunderstandings that can arise in verbal exchanges. Every team member can see the status of the project at a glance.

Facilitating collaboration between teams

By making objectives and progress visible, visual management encourages more effective collaboration between teams. Tools like the Kanban board make it easier to allocate tasks and let everyone know exactly where the project stands. This transparency helps to synchronize efforts and better manage each member’s time, optimizing collective performance.

Reduce errors and optimize processes

Thanks to a clear representation of stages and objectives, visual management reduces errors and improves process management. Teams can spot emerging problems more quickly, enabling them to be resolved before they impact on production. By identifying sticking points, companies optimize their workflows and improve overall project efficiency.

How to implement effective visual management?

Step 1: Setting up a working group

The first step is to create a team dedicated to implementing visual management. This working group should include members from different departments, so that everyone’s needs can be clearly identified. Close collaboration from the outset ensures better adoption of the method, and enables ideas to be gathered for adapting the visual tools to the company’s specific needs.

Step 2: Define the scope of your visual management system

It’s essential to define the scope of visual management precisely according to your objectives. Do you want to apply it to a specific project, a specific process, or the whole organization? This step helps clarify expectations and identify the key information to be visualized. This ensures that the tools used will meet the concrete needs of the company and its teams.

Step 3: Choose your tools

The choice of tools is crucial to effective visual management. Boards, like Kanban, are simple but powerful tools for visualizing the status of tasks and processes. It’s important to select tools that are adapted to the needs of teams and that enable clear visualization of data and performance indicators. These tools must be accessible and easy to understand.

Step 4: Design your visual

Designing the visual is a key step. It must be simple, clear and legible for all teams. The idea is to present essential information without overloading it. Every piece of data must have its place, and the visual must enable everyone to quickly understand the objectives, process stages and progress. A well-designed visual facilitates decision-making and communication.

Step 5: Define the right display points

It’s essential to choose strategic locations for your visual aids. These display points should be visible to everyone, in high-traffic areas such as meeting rooms or production areas. This enables every team member to follow the progress of projects and keep abreast of any changes or problems. Closeness to the teams ensures optimal use of visual tools.

Step 6: Make sure the resources in place are working properly

Once the visual tools have been implemented, it is essential to check their effectiveness on a regular basis. This includes adjusting the visuals in line with team feedback, and assessing their impact on performance and communication. The aim is to ensure that visual management meets the company’s needs and makes a real contribution to process improvement and decision-making.

Visual management methods and tools

Visual management relies on a variety of tools to make information more accessible and understandable. These tools are adapted to the needs of corporate teams and projects, facilitating task management and process improvement. Thanks to media such as tables, diagrams and mind maps, teams can monitor performance indicators and make decisions more quickly.

The color wheel and colors

The color wheel is a powerful tool in visual management for coding information and making indicators clearer. The use of colors helps to distinguish the different stages of a process, prioritize tasks and quickly identify problems. For example, red may signal a problem, while green indicates that the objective has been achieved. This simplifies visual communication within the team and improves decision-making.

Matrices and mind mapping

Matrix and mind mapping are visual methods for structuring information simply and effectively. A mind map organizes ideas around a central theme, facilitating project planning and task management. Matrices, such as the SWOT matrix, can be used to visualize complex data for better analysis of business needs and smoother process management.

GANTT and PERT diagrams for project management

The GANTT diagram is a visual chart that tracks the progress of tasks over time, while the PERT diagram is used to identify dependencies between the various stages of a project. These tools are essential for planning and coordinating teams in a complex project. They provide an overview of processes, ensuring that each task is completed on schedule.

The benefits of digital visual management

Digital visual management modernizes this method by integrating digital tools that improve efficiency and project management. Thanks to these solutions, companies can centralize their data, monitor performance in real time and react quickly to team needs. Digital tools also improve communication, while optimizing resources and working time.

Integrating digitalization for greater efficiency

Integrating digital tools into visual management offers a number of advantages, such as automated data collection and instantaneous information updates. These tools enable production processes to be managed more efficiently, while guaranteeing greater collaboration between teams. For example, digital Kanban boards facilitate project tracking and enable all team members to view task progress in real time.

Steps for implementing digital visual management

To implement digital visual management, it’s essential to follow several steps: choose the right digital tools, define the data to be visualized, then integrate these tools into existing processes. The next step is to train teams to use these tools optimally. Finally, it’s important to ensure that digital media are well adapted to the company’s specific needs, to maximize efficiency.

Frequently asked questions about visual management

What are the four levels of visual management?

Visual management is divided into four levels: basic information (such as key performance indicators), status display, problem visualization and solution visualization. Each level makes it possible to track project progress, identify obstacles, manage tasks more efficiently and make decisions quickly. These levels structure continuous improvement within the company.

What are the three main elements to manage visually?

The three main elements to be managed visually are tasks, processes and objectives. Tasks are the day-to-day work of the team, processes organize the various stages of the project, and objectives define the expected results. Visual management of these elements is essential to maintain team efficiency, monitor progress in real time and ensure that objectives are met on time.

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Lean Manufacturing is a management method that has transformed the way companies approach production. It aims to continuously improve processes by focusing on eliminating waste. The system is based on optimizing flows, creating value for the customer, and reducing inventories and unnecessary costs. Thanks to specific tools and methods, Lean enables companies to boost performance, quality and flexibility, while increasing customer satisfaction and promoting better use of resources.

Introduction to Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing focuses on a rigorous approach that seeks to maximize the efficiency of each production process by eliminating superfluous steps. This management system, originally developed by Toyota, emphasizes continuous improvement, known as “Kaizen”, and involves every member of the organization. The aim is to produce only what is needed, at the right time, and to meet customer requirements with the best possible quality, while minimizing costs and resources.

What is Lean Manufacturing?

Lean Manufacturing is a management system that aims to eliminate anything that doesn’t add value to the production process, such as waste, waiting times or unnecessary inventories. By focusing on activities that contribute directly to the creation of value for the customer, this method helps to improve the company’s overall performance. In other words, Lean seeks to optimize every activity so that every resource is used as efficiently as possible, while guaranteeing better quality and lower costs.

The origins and philosophy of Lean Manufacturing

Lean manufacturing has its roots in the Toyota Production System (TPS), a revolutionary approach developed after the Second World War. The main idea was to create a flexible production system that would reduce waste, while improving quality. This philosophy is based on Kaizen (continuous improvement), which encourages every employee to contribute to process optimization. Lean then spread around the world, becoming a benchmark for many companies seeking to improve their performance in terms of quality, costs and lead times.

The 5 fundamental principles of Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing is based on five key principles that help companies to organize their processes efficiently. These principles not only eliminate waste, but also improve the organization and fluidity of workflows, while focusing on customer satisfaction. The rigorous application of these principles at every stage of production ensures continuous improvement in performance.

Identifying value

The first principle of Lean Manufacturing is to clearly define the value of the product or service from the customer’s point of view. This involves understanding precisely what the customer expects, enabling the company to focus its efforts on the activities that create that value. By eliminating unnecessary tasks or processes that do not add value, the company can reduce costs and improve the quality of its products or services, while better meeting customer expectations.

Mapping value flows

Value stream mapping is a crucial step in visualizing every process involved in the creation of a product or service. This principle helps companies to analyze each step of the workflow in detail, in order to identify waste and inefficiencies that need to be eliminated. By optimizing workflows, companies can improve the speed, quality and efficiency of their production, while reducing inventories and unnecessary resources.

Create flow

Creating a continuous flow means ensuring that processes run smoothly, without interruptions, waiting times or blockages. This principle ensures that each stage of production is optimally connected to the next, enabling a constant flow of materials and information. By reducing bottlenecks and delays, the company can improve responsiveness, product quality and optimize costs, while cutting production lead times.

Pulling flows

The pull system is based on producing according to actual customer demand, rather than producing large quantities in the hope of selling them. This reduces inventories, avoids overproduction and minimizes wasted resources. The production process thus becomes more responsive and flexible, adjusting the manufacture of products to actual customer needs, while maintaining lower inventory levels and optimizing the use of resources.

Continuous improvement

Continuous improvement, or Kaizen, is a fundamental pillar of Lean Manufacturing. This principle involves constantly looking for ways to improve existing processes, whether to reduce costs, optimize flows or improve product quality. Every employee, at every level of the organization, is encouraged to identify problems and propose solutions, thus creating a culture of constant progress. This approach enables the company to remain competitive and adapt to market changes.

Lean Manufacturing tools and techniques

Lean Manufacturing is based on a series of tools and techniques designed to implement its fundamental principles. These tools are designed to help identify waste, optimize processes, and improve overall company performance. They also enable tangible progress to be monitored, and adjustments to be made where necessary to achieve production targets.

What are Lean Manufacturing tools?

The main tools of Lean Manufacturing include techniques such as 5S, Kanban and value stream mapping. 5S is an organizational method designed to improve efficiency by maintaining a clean and orderly workspace. Kanban, on the other hand, is a visual system for managing workflows according to demand. These tools, combined with other techniques such as MUDA (waste) analysis, are essential for improving business performance and responsiveness.

5S, Kanban, and MUDA

5S is a Japanese method for organizing the workspace to make it more efficient. It involves sorting, tidying, cleaning, standardizing and maintaining discipline in the production area. Kanban is a visual tool used to regulate workflows according to actual demand, ensuring that products are produced just-in-time. Last but not least, MUDA analysis helps to identify and eliminate waste that undermines efficiency, such as unnecessary stocks, waiting times or superfluous activities.

Lean Thinking and continuous improvement

Lean Thinking is an approach that goes beyond simple tools and techniques: it’s a way of thinking at the level of the entire organization. By integrating Lean Manufacturing principles into every decision, the company adopts a proactive approach to continuous improvement, aimed at improving quality, reducing costs and maximizing customer value. This optimizes every aspect of the production process and fosters a culture of innovation and sustainable efficiency.

Practical applications of Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing goes beyond theoretical principles to offer practical applications that enable companies to transform their production processes into efficient, fluid systems. By focusing on the elimination of waste, continuous improvement and the creation of customer value, it helps optimize operational performance while reducing costs. Integrating Lean into daily operations permanently transforms the way an organization functions.

How does Lean work?

The Lean method is based on optimizing each activity in the workflow. By identifying steps that do not add value to the final product, the company can reduce unnecessary inventory and improve overall efficiency. Lean uses various tools, such as Kanban or 5S, to manage time and resources more efficiently. Each process is constantly reviewed to ensure that it contributes directly to customer satisfaction and the quality of the final product or service.

Reduce waste and improve quality

One of the central objectives of Lean Manufacturing is to reduce waste, known by the Japanese term “MUDA”, which is detrimental to productivity. This includes excess inventory, waiting times and production errors. By eliminating these inefficiencies, the organization improves product quality while reducing costs. Lean thus enables the organization to focus on the work stages that create value, while ensuring better use of resources.

Objectives and impacts of Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing has clear objectives: to improve company performance by reducing waste, increasing product quality and cutting lead times. Applying Lean principles has a considerable impact on a company’s competitiveness, while increasing customer satisfaction. Gains achieved through cost reduction and process improvement have a direct impact on financial and operating results.

What is the purpose of Lean?

The main aim of Lean Manufacturing is to maximize the value created for the customer while minimizing resources and waste. This means constantly improving processes to increase efficiency and productivity. The Lean approach also focuses on reducing problems encountered in production and eliminating steps that do not add value. The result is better product or service quality, lower costs and shorter lead times.

Impact on quality, costs and deadlines

Lean has a significant impact on production costs, quality and lead times. By reducing waste and improving workflows, companies can produce higher-quality products in less time, with lower costs. The Lean system enables customers’ needs to be met more quickly, while reducing inventories and wasted resources. This continuous improvement approach translates into improved competitiveness and greater customer satisfaction.

Integrating Lean Manufacturing into daily operations

Integrating Lean Manufacturing into a company’s day-to-day operations is a key step towards sustainable efficiency. By applying Lean principles on a daily basis, companies not only improve their performance, but also transform the way they work. Successful implementation of Lean requires collective buy-in and constant review of processes to keep them aligned with continuous improvement objectives.

Applying the principles to production

In production, applying Lean principles means optimizing each stage of the process so that it creates maximum value while reducing waste. This translates into smoother workflows, reduced waiting times and the elimination of errors. Companies that apply Lean in their day-to-day operations use tools like Kanban to regulate production and ensure that every activity adds direct value for the customer.

Steps to successful implementation

To successfully integrate Lean Manufacturing, a company needs to follow several key steps. It starts with a mapping of current processes to identify problems and waste. Next, it’s important to train employees in Lean principles and tools, so that they can contribute to continuous improvement. Finally, an organizational culture that values efficiency, quality and flexibility needs to be established to ensure that Lean becomes an integral part of day-to-day operations.

Production optimization with Teeptrak and Lean Manufacturing

Teeptrak solutions combine Lean Manufacturing principles with IoT to improve plant performance. With tools such as Perftrak for machine monitoring and Pacetrak for manual tasks, Teeptrak helps reduce waste, improve quality and optimize production flows. By capturing and analyzing data in real time, these systems provide a clear view of performance, enabling effective continuous improvement actions to be launched.

Teeptrak: A key solution for optimizing performance in Industry 4.0

Teeptrak offers all-in-one systems that modernize plants by providing real-time monitoring of machines and processes. Thanks to plug&play modules, data can be collected instantly and exported at any time to optimize production. These solutions help improve productivity, identify the causes of downtime and launch continuous improvement initiatives. Adapted to various sectors, Teeptrak’s tools contribute to the digital transformation of companies.

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From quality control to production monitoring

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Gemba Walks can be an invaluable Lean management tool for quality control, if and only if they are carried out correctly.

Veillez à choisir les bonnes personnes pour ce travail, à établir un plan et à prendre le temps de parler aux employés. Pensez aussi à répéter ces tours de manière régulière, cela vous permettra d’établir un véritable suivi des améliorations apportées à vos process de production.

You can be sure that the exercise will be a success and that your Gemba Walks will be productive and useful by taking into account these points and advice on their organisation.

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What exactly is the Gemba Walk?

 

In the manufacturing industry, there is a practice known as Gemba Walk or factory tour. To briefly explain its principle, this practice consists of going to the workshop and checking operations in person.

Many people consider Gemba visits to be an essential part of quality control, and can offer many benefits to companies when they are carried out perfectly. On the other hand, if they are not carried out correctly, they can do more harm than good.

In this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about these plant tours and what’s involved. We’ll also give you a few instructions to guide you through the process.

We hope this information will help you get the most out of this valuable quality control and lean management tool!

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With whom and when?

 

The first step in carrying out a Gemba walk is to select the right people for the job.

The first thing you’ll want to do is choose employees who are familiar with the manufacturing process. Their level of process knowledge should enable them to identify potential problems.

Once you have assembled your team, you will need to decide when to go to the visit. The best time for a Gemba Walk is usually during production, when you can see first-hand how things are done.

Since the aim is to do this exercise every day to monitor operations, you can also schedule these rounds at different times of the day (on different shifts, for example). The best thing is to do it at a fixed time, to get the operators used to it. This way, the people you visit will be prepared with their questions and won’t be surprised.

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Prepare your tour to maximise results

 

To make the most of your Gemba visit, it’s important to have a plan.

Before you visit the factory, take the time to draw up a checklist of the items you want to examine.

Establish a route beforehand and identify potentially critical points. This list should include obvious and hidden areas that could be improved.

Once you’re in the plant, make sure you talk to the operators. They’re the best feedback you’ll get. They know what they’re doing. They’ll be able to tell you about the problems they’re experiencing and offer suggestions for improvement.

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From quality control to production monitoring

 

Gemba Walks can be an invaluable Lean management toolfor quality control, if and only if they are carried out correctly.

Veillez à choisir les bonnes personnes pour ce travail, à établir un plan et à prendre le temps de parler aux employés. Pensez aussi à répéter ces tours de manière régulière, cela vous permettra d’établir un véritable suivi des améliorations apportées à vos process de production.

You can be sure that the exercise will be a success and that your Gemba Walks will be productive and useful by taking into account these points and advice on their organisation.

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The 7 wastes of Lean: how to get rid of them?

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After rebounding slightly in July, French industrial production is now struggling to return to pre-crisis growth levels, with an increase of just 1.3% in the fourth quarter. With the exception of the food industry, the other sectors are particularly vulnerable and exposed, so manufacturers need to produce more efficiently. The best way to do this is to focus on the 7 areas of waste.

Lean manufacturing is a method of optimising industrial performance that is particularly well-suited to this context, and which aims to improve compliance with cost-quality-delivery requirements. It involves a detailed analysis of the various stages that make up the production process, followed by the elimination of all waste identified throughout the manufacturing process, resulting in greater efficiency and profitability.

Lean Manufacturing is therefore based on the elimination of waste (or Muda) within production processes. But what are these different types of waste? What impact do they have on your profitability? How can you eliminate this waste? In this article, we will try to answer these questions by identifying them and suggesting ways in which you can improve.

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What is waste in Lean?

It’s very simple: waste is defined as an activity that the customer is not prepared to pay for and/or that adds no value to the process. It’s something that everyone knows and accepts, either because they’re used to it or because they’re afraid of change.

Studies show that only 5% of the time allocated to creating a product actually adds value; the rest represents tasks that involve more labour, materials or space but do not add value. It is therefore more than necessary to focus on reducing or eliminating the 7 wastes in order to produce more efficiently.

It’s through the elimination of waste that your processes will become richer in added value, enabling you to identify opportunities to improve your overall performance.

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The 7 traditional wastes of Lean

Here are the seven wastes highlighted by Taiichi Ohno (Toyota engineer and father of the Toyota production system).

 

Unnecessary movements

Moving around doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re doing your job or that you’re doing it well. Unnecessary movement is a waste that adds no value for the customer. Grabbing the last pieces from the bottom of a pallet, going around an obstacle or looking for a misfiled document are rarely compatible with the notion of efficiency.

Who hasn’t had to deal with a maintenance technician arriving at a breakdown with an incomplete toolbox, leading to unnecessary round-trips and even a production line stoppage?

The solution? Observe your operator stations and produce in a 5S environment. This will save you time, energy and even potential injuries.

 

Waiting time

Like everyone else, you experience waiting every day: waiting in traffic jams, waiting for a letter, waiting for an answer… In a factory, waiting time is often caused by waiting for materials to arrive, waiting for the right instructions to start manufacturing or waiting for equipment with insufficient capacity.

Il existe des outils pour compenser ce temps sans valeur ajoutée, comme la méthode TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) ou la méthode SMED (changement rapide d’outil). Mais tu peux aussi utiliser des instructions de travail standardisées et former des travailleurs polyvalents et flexibles capables de s’adapter rapidement aux exigences du travail. Cette dernière méthode peut réduire ton temps d’attente jusqu’à 50 % !

 

Non-quality

In 2017, AFNOR carried out a study on the costs of non-quality in industry. The study showed that for the 2/3 of companies reporting that they measure the costs of non-quality, the related losses are around 5% of turnover. By focusing on non-quality issues, companies could recover 5 to 10% of their turnover.

This waste has a major impact on customer satisfaction and can lead to costs. For example, if a product is found not to be of good quality, additional manpower (temporary or fixed-term workers) may have to be mobilised for a given period to deal with customer problems.

Here too, production in a 5S environment and the introduction of Poka-Yoke are interesting levers for progress to eliminate rework and scrap.

 

Overproduction

Overproduction consists of producing in excess of actual customer orders. This anticipation is often motivated by the fear of running out and not being able to meet demand.

But rather than the ‘Just In Time’ philosophy of producing products just when you need them, the ‘Just In Case’ way of working causes a number of problems, resulting in unnecessary production time, storage costs and raw material expenses.

Pull production based on customer requirements (kanban), continuous flow (takt time) or training your staff are all solutions to remedy this wastage.

 

Unnecessary stocks

Stock is money asleep! Often linked to the notion of overproduction or poor planning, this waste results in financial immobilisation and a loss of storage space. In another context, it could correspond to an accumulation of emails or invoices.

Measures to overcome this problem include purchasing raw materials only when necessary and in sufficient quantities, reducing buffer zones and creating a queuing system to avoid overproduction.

 

Unnecessary operations

You will also find this type of waste in your daily life, when, before setting off on a well-deserved holiday, you check several times to make sure that the doors and the gas are closed properly. In a factory, waste is any action or task that does not add value for the customer.

The routine and tradition of the trade mean that operations are carried out which the product does not require, or no longer requires. An analysis of each operation carried out can shed light on this type of waste. Here’s a list of examples: too much quality control on a part during its manufacturing process, putting covers in place before painting operations, eliminating surplus material before the operation on the machine tool is complete.

 

Unnecessary transport

This concerns the unnecessary transport of materials, parts, products, documents or information. This waste can be due to bad habits or poorly organised workstations.

What’s the solution? Create a U-shaped cell! A workshop with a U-shaped configuration will group resources together to carry out different operations on the same part within the cell. This considerably reduces transport and waiting times between machines.

For some time now, alongside the 7 traditional forms of waste, an eighth has been increasingly cited.

 

Under-utilisation of employee skills

This waste is relatively unknown because it does not appear in the Toyota production system. However, it is clear that if you don’t call on the skills of your employees working on the front line, it becomes difficult to improve processes.

Your field staff are the best placed to detect problems and find solutions, so they play a key role in your continuous improvement process.

The notion of waste is important because it will be the driving force behind your Lean approach. In fact, it was simply by observing the various types of waste that Toyota created its entire production system. It is estimated that a company that has not implemented a Lean approach spends less than 20% of its time adding value. Imagine that the rest of the time is distributed between the 7 wastes. Companies with a degree of Lean maturity spend 80% on adding value. So, are you ready to take the plunge?

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