Case Study: Establishing Visual Management and Daily Huddles

A UK based automotive company was regularly experiencing bottlenecks in their production line caused by a variety of problems. However, at the heart of the issue was a lack of communication between the teams, in order to understand on a regular basis the status of the overall process. PMI were engaged to support the organisation with establishing visual management boards, and daily Start of Shift Huddles to address this issue, resulting in issues being captured, prioritised, and escalated  quickly and easily.

Outcomes

Process Performance is Transparent

Staff feel more connected to work

Priorities are easily identified

The Customer Challenge

The organisation has a well established set of teams who work on different elements of the end to end production process. Communication between the teams is paramount to ensure that the processes flow smoothly, and that the work is balanced.

However, they regularly found that bottlenecks were appearing, resulting in the teams who were operating the downstream processes waiting for work to be handed over. The bottlenecks were caused by a variety of problems, including poor quality parts, availability of the correct tools, and shortages of manpower. However, at the heart of the issue was the lack of communication between the teams, in order to understand on a regular basis the status of the overall process.

This meant that it was difficult to identify the priorities for each shift, and maintain the plan for delivery to their customers.

"We now have a clear view of what's going on, and can identify problems before they become big issues"

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Learning to See

PMI were engaged to support the organisation with establishing visual management boards, and daily Start of Shift Huddles.

Each manufacturing team created a visual management board with sections focused on 5 key themes:

Safety
Quality
Cost
Delivery
People

The critical performance metrics for each theme and the processes for gathering the data were agreed upon by each team. All boards included a header section to visually signal if performance was ‘normal’ (green) or ‘abnormal’ (red).

These boards  form the focus for daily Start of Shift Huddles, attended by all team members with the purpose of reviewing the current processes and performance, sharing information, and seeking the support of others. Team Leaders then attend a collective huddle with the Manufacturing Manager, providing an overview of performance for the whole line.

As a result of this process, within the first 30 minutes of each shift starting, everyone knows the status of the entire production line.

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The Results & Benefits the Customer Achieved

The use of visual management boards and start of shift huddles has generated significant benefits for the organisation:

Everyone, from shop floor to the Manufacturing Manager, knows the status of the entire production line within the first 30 minutes of each shift starting
Issues are captured, prioritised, and escalated  quickly and easily
Performance can be observed over time to better understand if problem resolutions or improvements are yielding the desired performance results
Teams better understand their performance relative to targets, which stimulates idea generation
The Manufacturing Manager experiences fewer disturbances or surprises throughout the day since having this structure in place
Team members on the shop floor report greatly improved communication – which was an area of concern in the last employee survey

Would you like to experience the benefits of Visual Management and Daily Huddles?

Over the last 35 years we have built our business by delivering results for our clients. All executed by our team of true performance improvement experts, who have held senior roles in industry, sat where you are, and understand the real-world challenges of running a business. This lets us apply pragmatic solutions to your problems, not just the ‘out of the box’ approach taught in a training course.

Our team get stuck in. We roll our sleeves up and work with you to deliver your performance improvement goals. Contact us today and take the first step towards transforming your goals into results.