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Daily Management System

his allowed everyone to track their performance and make improvements where necessary. We also provided regular feedback to our hourly team members and operators on their performance and how they were contributing to the overall success of the business.

Using Visual Tools to Manage Your Team, Department, or Organization

I am excited as we have rolled out our new Daily Management System and Portland Bottling Company., As a manager in the beverage industry, it’s essential to have a clear and concise visual management system in place. This system should be updated regularly with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure that everyone on the team is on the same page. The purpose of a visual management board is to provide everyone with a comprehensive overview of the business’s performance and to promote transparency and accountability, and teamwork.

In this blog post, we will be discussing how we updated our visual management board with KPIs, and how we got our hourly team members and operators involved in the process.

Step 1: Identifying the Key Performance Indicators

The first step in updating our visual management board was to identify the KPIs that would be the most impactful for our team. We considered a range of factors, including production efficiency, product quality, and customer satisfaction, to determine which KPIs would be the most relevant. All team members got to weigh in on the discussion. The critical point is that if your hourly team members are going to “own” the board, they have to be involved in the creation process.

Step 2: Setting Up the Visual Management Board

We chose to go with a basic board but with a twist or two on it.

Since we truly believe that our People are our greatest asset – that KPI comes first.
Secondly, we chose Safety as that easily coincides with taking care of our team members and ensuring compliance with training requirements.

Step 3: Involving the Hourly Team Members and Operators

Once we had identified some of the KPIs, we set up a visual management board in our production office area. We held multiple training sessions with multiple departments and even enjoyed “mock” meetings where we got to do a meeting and offer feedback and support to each other. It actually turned out to be quite fun.

The next step was to get our hourly team members and operators involved in the process. We organized a team meeting and invited everyone to discuss the new visual management board. During the meeting, we explained the purpose of the board and how the KPIs would be used to improve production efficiency and customer satisfaction. We also invited everyone to suggest additional KPIs that they believed would be beneficial.

As we implemented the system live, the boards were placed as close to the machines as possible, where they could be easily seen by everyone on the team. We used color-coded charts and graphs to display the KPIs, which made it easy for everyone to understand the data.

Step 4: Updating the Visual Management Board Regularly

We updated the visual management board regularly, ensuring that the KPIs were accurate and up-to-date. This allowed everyone to track their performance and make improvements where necessary. We also provided regular feedback to our hourly team members and operators on their performance and how they were contributing to the overall success of the business.

Step 5: Celebrating Success

Finally, we celebrated success by recognizing the achievements of our hourly team members and operators. This helped to promote a positive and motivated work environment, and it encouraged everyone to continue working towards our shared goals.

Step 6: Management Gemba Walks

Don’t forget about your Management Gemba Walks.

The purpose of management Gemba walks in a visual management system is to enable managers to observe and evaluate how work is being performed in the workplace. Gemba is a Japanese term that means “the real place” or “the place where work is done.” Gemba walks are a management technique that involves going to the actual location where work is being performed, observing the process, and talking to the employees who are performing the work.

In the context of a visual management system, Gemba walks allow managers to see how the system is functioning in practice, identify any issues or problems, and make necessary improvements. Visual management systems are designed to make information about processes, performance, and quality visible and easily understandable, so Gemba walks can be used to ensure that the information being presented is accurate and up-to-date.

Our managers do their formal Gemba twice a week to observe as close to the machine as possible. By actively engaging with employees and observing the process in action, managers can gain a deeper understanding of how work is being done, identify any inefficiencies or areas for improvement, and provide feedback to the team. Gemba walks also provide an opportunity for managers to build relationships with employees, demonstrate their support for the team, and reinforce the importance of continuous improvement

In conclusion, updating our visual management board with KPIs has been a valuable process. It has helped us to promote collaboration, teamwork, and a shared understanding of our goals. By involving our hourly team members and operators in the process, we have been able to improve production efficiency, product quality, and customer satisfaction.

New Year, New Leader Standard Work (LSW)

It is that time of the year again. Reviewing budgets, strategies, etc. One thing that I am currently working on is updating my Leader Standard Work to align with our updated goals for 2023.

Leader Standard Work (LSW) is a tool that can be used to effectively manage production systems. It is a set of procedures and processes that outline the specific tasks and responsibilities of leaders and managers in a production environment. By following LSW, leaders and managers can ensure that their teams have the necessary information and resources to perform their jobs effectively and efficiently.

One of the key benefits of LSW is that it helps to standardize the way that work is done in a production environment. This can help to reduce variability and improve the overall quality of the products or services being produced. It also helps to ensure that all employees are working to the same standards, which can improve communication and collaboration among team members.

Another benefit of LSW is that it helps to ensure that leaders and managers are aware of any issues or problems that may arise in the production process. This can help them to quickly identify and address any problems, which can help to prevent delays and minimize the impact of any disruptions to the production process.

When implementing LSW in a production environment, it is important to involve all members of the production team in the process. This can help to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities and that they are fully committed to the implementation of LSW. It is also important to provide training and resources to employees, to help them understand and effectively implement the new procedures and processes.

Here is the draft LSW that I am working with.

To effectively monitor and maintain LSW, management must establish visual management systems such as Andon, KPI boards and process mapping. These visual tools helps to track the performance of the processes, identify problems and quickly address them. The data from the visual management systems is used for continuous improvement and to make necessary adjustments to the LSW procedures.

Overall, LSW is a powerful tool for managing production systems and can help to improve the efficiency and quality of the production process. By standardizing the way that work is done, leaders and managers can ensure that their teams have the necessary information and resources to perform their jobs effectively and efficiently. Additionally, LSW can be used to quickly identify and address any issues that may arise in the production process, helping to prevent delays and minimize the impact of disruptions.

4 Rules of Process: Rule #1

“This approach is not unilateral however. It is necessary to play catch ball with those who will be doing the work. This will ensure they buy in to the process but it is up to the leader to define the parameters to make sure no effort is wasted.”

Rule #1 – It must be defined by those planning the work

This is the foundation of good process. In my experience with developing Standard Work and Leader Standard work, there have been variations on how to approach creating a process that is stable, repeatable, and effective to where the process produces the planned results.

One approach is very “hands off” where leaders delegate the formation and implementation to those actually doing the work. At first this sounds like an empowering approach but in reality it almost never works for standardization.

It usually occurs in actions and activities that are not aligned with the higher level strategy; a lot of effort and actions but little value or contribution the KPI or other metrics.

A better way is to, as the leader, own the definition of the process by answering one or more of the following questions:

What problem are we trying to solve?
What value is it trying to add?
What outcome is intended?
How will completion directly impact the target?

This approach is not unilateral however. It is necessary to play catch ball with those who will be doing the work. This will ensure they buy in to the process but it is up to the leader to define the parameters to make sure no effort is wasted.

Breaking Rule #1

If a process is not clearly defined, it will be up to the individual worker to know how to get the job done; this means that the process will be done differently by different people

A short time ago it became necessary to be present on the production floor for the night shift. Though a significant interruption to my normal schedule I welcomed the opportunity to observe a different shift / team perform the same activities.

It was interesting to talk to the operator through the changeovers and startups. They were aligned with the end goal – minimizing downtime during changeovers. The difference was how to get there.

The night shift operator did many of the same tasks , however, in a different order. But, they also did some of the steps differently. The data would support, less efficiently and effectively.

Fortunately the operator was open to some input and best practice sharing. To top it off, the next hour was the second highest production rate ever recorded since our startup 1.5 years ago.

Defining the process for the operator enable them to run at a rate they had never run before.

Kudos to the team and kudos to the 1st rule of process – It must be defined by those planning the work.