Wired Together – Engaging Your
Employees with Visual Systems
Tom Lacey
Manufacturing Manager, Manchester NH
Outline for Today’s Discussion
• A bit of our history in Manchester…for context
• Visual Displays and Visual Controls
• How to Use Visuals to Enhance your Business
• Adding instructions & poke-yokes
• Engagement, Culture and Visual Systems
• Case study – using visual tools to achieve
business results
Company Profile
No. 405
EUROPE & AFRICA
REGION
AMERICAS
REGION
ASIA PACIFIC
REGION
4,800 Employees
12 Manufacturing
Locations
1,800 Employees
10 Manufacturing Locations
8,000 Employees
35 Manufacturing Locations
PUBLICLY
TRADED
57
MANUFACTURING
LOCATIONS
IN 26 COUNTRIES
09
TECHNOLOGY
CENTERS
13
ALUMINUM
& COPPER
ROD MILLS
3
rd
SALES
LARGEST GLOBAL
REPRESENTATION &
WIRE & CABLE
DISTRIBUTION
MANUFACTURER
WORLDWIDE
Manufacturing in a facility built
over 100 years ago.
View of Jefferson Mill from General Cable
Aerial view – General Cable Manchester
Coolidge Mill, 345 McGregor Street
Main entry, from
parking lot
Why “Go Visual”?
• A common language for your organization to
communicate with.
• Reduce risk of mistakes (poke-yoke/“errorproofing”).
• Puts “control” and “decision-making” in the hands
of the people that are performing the tasks.
• Improves interaction, engagement, alignment.
• Reduces learning and training time.
• Improves standard work.
Visual Displays vs. Visual
Controls
• Displays share information.
• Controls influence behavior.
Visual Displays
• Displays communicate or share information.
…familiar examples include
scoreboards and road signage.
Displays can serve many purposes, and they are
important -
- but they do not directly
influence behavior
Displays communicate the
state, condition, or status
to the organization.
Visual Displays in Industry
From simple signage…
…to complex process maps
showing relationships between
operations
Visual Controls
• Controls influence behavior.
What are the rules of the system? How do you know?
Visuals, like language, require interpretation.
Red means ?
Yellow means ?
Green means ?
Common language requires commonly accepted definitions.
Visual Controls in Manchester
For everything from Safety -
Scheduling and workflow systems
Work in process (WIP) controls
Lighting systems to trigger Demand and Replenishment
Sign
Card-based Replenishment Systems
Card out signal
Re-Order card
Front
Back
Back
Point-of-Use storage with Visual Controls.
Spec
Define:
*
Copper
• partials
Schedule
*
Copper & Compound
return to stock
Compound
Color concentrate
Tips & dies
*
Hot & Cold
welders
• Crimpers
• Ceramics
• Sandpaper
Measure:
E-12
Primary
Extrusion
Finished primary
wire to cabling
Pay-off tools
•Allen keys
•Collars
Reduce “lost time”
• Waiting for materials
• Searching for needed tools.
*
= focus items
Improve & Controls:
*
Copper Partials
*
Copper Return to Stock
*
Incoming Copper
Improve & Controls:
*
Features
Compounds
• Blue “returns tag“ = visual signal to remove to basement
• Incoming
• Return to Stock
*
Features
*
Hot & Cold welders
Crimpers
• 6 tools, labeled
by size/OD
Features
• Ready to use, within reach.
A Visual System for Colors Product &
level
indicators
13 colors, with a Visual Control System
An additional example of controls
Define:
Copper
Spec
Compound
Nylon
Color concentrate
Schedule Labels
Plastic
Return to stock
Finished wire
E-3/E-13
Tips & dies
Butt-welder &
supplies Pay-off tools
*
= focus
Spools/reels
Boxes
Contact Printer
Ink Jet printers
*
Controls:
*
Ink Jet printers
Visual Poke-yokes:
• Black Printer = Right hand orientation, White Printer = left hand orientation
• Printer carts & spaces labeled with colored tape
• Cell-specific
• All items labeled with “LP number” – designate components to system
Control “poke-yokes”:
Ink
(top shelf)
Solvent
(bottom shelf)
Dedicated wash bottles , labeled & located.
Shelf
label
Clear = white printer Green = black printer
Controls – The Visual Standard:
This is one of the Keys to Sustain…
(reference for “here’s how it should look”).
Take 10 seconds…
• Write down the top 3 priorities that you wish
your employees were 100% committed to and
engaged with in your business.
Business leaders, what keeps you awake at night?
If we surveyed all of your employees, what would they
say were the top 3 focus priorities for your
business?
Manchester’s Scoreboard Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Safety
Quality
Injuries
Customer Returns Internal MRB areas
Near Misses
Plant Scrap
692
Days Injury Free
$2,383
This month CCP $
5.2%
This month Scrap
(Target = 4.5%)
H-Cord E4, BW E3/E13
- $11.2k - 1/2 day
Productivity
Plant Volume
Service &
Delivery
First Aid Events
Work Order
Delivery
$ ahead/behind
($1,000)
Days ahead/behind
Bottleneck
Throughput
94.0%
90.0%
92.9%
Month-to-Date
Last Week
Line Fill, MTD
DC E15
H-AWG E5, BUC E7/E8, L-Cord
E11, L-AWG E2
Spare Dots
Creating engagement Monday, October 05, 2015
Safety
Injuries
First Aid Events
Near Misses
830
Days Injury Free
• Let your visuals generate emotional attachment.
• Celebrate the successes!
Would our results be different if we did not• Inject passion? Talk about the details? Celebrate our success
every day? Continually reinforce safety first?
Can visuals impact Beliefs & Values?
Be Kind
Please Rewind
Visual Information can be a
powerful tool for sharing an
organization’s values and
beliefs.
Key points to visual systems
• Interpretation of visuals must be clear.
• Define the “who” is expected to do “what”, involve
fully.
• Poke-yoke (reduce chance of errors).
• Place the controls in the hands of those who use
the system (operator-led process control).
• Celebrate the “Are We Winning”.
There’s always room for improvement (a simpler, better way).
Fully involving the “who” – people.
As designed
As practiced
Simple Is Usually Best
We post everything in our value streams – now that’s
visual!
Q: How do you measure success?
A1 – The more, the better.
A2 - The critical few.
Sometimes, less is more.
• Pick the critical few - avoid “wallpaper”
• Easier to maintain.
Case Study
• January 2015 – Manchester, NH
• Several incidents of “mixed materials”.
• Conditions/States Present:
• New associates, training.
• Remote location.
• Rushing, mind not on task.
A kaizen team applies their skills & gets results.
The Basement
Material (boxes)
stored this side of
aisle.
4 bays
4 bins
Material consumed
this side of aisle.
Forktruck Aisle
Material Storage Area.
Material Consumption Area.
Sign
Surge Bin
Boxes (gaylords) stored
between columns (bays).
Tipper
Instructions for forktruck operator:
1. Store correct gaylords in bays opposite tippers
2. Remove empty gaylords from tippers, dispose of properly
3. Move full gaylord across the aisle onto tipper, load material
4”
1”
X
3 labels
13-digit part number
Tipper
13-digit part number
Surge Bin
The findings…
“It’s simple. Just read the part numbers.”
• Did you happen to notice a part number disconnect on
the previous slide? Let’s look again…
The analysis
1. Poor Lighting in the area – difficult to read.
2. Forktruck drivers must exit the truck to read the 4” x 6”
labels.
3. Several part numbers have only 1 digit of differentiation.
4. Bins and signage not consistent or correct in all instances
(bin #18 listed part number for 8205 grey).
5. Operator was not aware that he crossed aisleway 1 bay
up with the gaylord, and loaded it onto the wrong tipper.
Improvement Team
starts working -
• Added lighting – BIG difference
• Remove debris (5S, 5S, 5S…)
• Power clean flooring
Mistake-proofing
• Material-specific color-coding
• Added color-coded signage
• Color coded tippers, surge
bins, and lines
Prevention and Detection Poke-yokes
Storage Bay sign
• Poke-yoke (red) part
number highlights.
• Circled what to look for.
Tipper & Surge Bin sign
• Size & shape of
compound.
• Part number highlights
The end product
• Column signage
6-months later…
• Sustaining.
• Adding 1 more bay/surge bin.
Visual Systems & ROI (return on investment)
• What is the value of a customer to your business?
• What is the administrative cost to “fix” or manage the
follow-on activity when a mistake happens?
The Leader and Standard Work
The Power of One
Critical mass needed = 1 to trigger change.
Influential Leaders vs. Positional Leaders
•
•
Who best can work 1x1 with your associates to introduce
change?
Early adopters/passive sustainers/aggressive resistors
Standard work yields more time to lead change.
Do people in your organization know how & what
they contribute to the business?
Do they also know what is most important to your
business?
Thoughts on where to start • What three things are vital to your business?
•
How should we communicate the status of these
three things to everyone in our business?
• “Business Critical” area
•
•
A “bottleneck” or a constraint
Select an area historically challenged with mistakes,
misses, upset conditions.
• Confidence-builder (low-risk) to foster teamwork.
Thank You!
Please complete the session survey at:
www.ame.org/survey
Session: TP/18
Engaging Your Employees with Visual Systems
Tom Lacey
tlacey@generalcable.com