In a previous sketch I introduced Toyota’s approach to visual management, or Floor Management Display Systems (FMDS), including the six elements of creating FMDS. Now it’s time for a deeper dive into those six elements and explore how their approach guarantees an effective floor display will present compelling messages.
At Toyota it all starts with visualizing the standards. If you’ve implemented lean correctly, abnormalities within the process should automatically become more visible and apparent, i.e. unbalanced flow or a choke point in production. Driving the daily meeting and review cadence ensures these abnormalities are addressed and reacted to in real time to get back to standard operating conditions quickly.
Then you want to look at your systems and priorities – do they align with your hoshin objectives? Are you performing PDCA every day (incremental improvements)? And what do your systems prioritize? (At Toyota, the top priorities for a FMDS to address are generally safety, quality, low cost, and short lead-time.)
The remaining elements in my sketch drill down on the important topics of managing by sections and groups, reflection, attention to key performance indicators (KPIs) and the discipline to pursue daily kaizen, teach A3 thinking and, most critically of all, mange your change points.
Check out my animation to reinforce my message.
And once you’ve reviewed the sketch and animation, ask yourself this question: What can I do now based on what I’ve learned to put some, if not all, of this into practice in my organization?
