Journal of Industrial Information Integration 12 (2018) 13–22

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Journal of Industrial Information Integration

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jii

Developing dashboards for SMEs to improve performance of productive T

equipment and processes
⁎
Sandrina Vilarinho , Isabel Lopes, Sérgio Sousa
ALGORITMI Research Centre, Department of Production and Systems, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Developing and implementing dashboards is common in large companies. However, these practices should be
Continuous improvement adapted to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), since they differ in several characteristics, including at in-
Dashboard formation system level. This paper proposes a procedure to develop dashboards for SMEs aimed at improving the
Information system performance of productive equipment and processes, at shop floor level. The developed dashboard intends to
Kaizen
improve performance by efficiently providing information to the productive areas and turn this information into
Total productive maintenance
Visual management
knowledge, plans, and actions which promote an effective shop floor activity. The main phases of the proposed
procedure are defined based on the traditional process of product development. One of the main phases, the
development of the dashboard layout, was performed considering visual management and continuous im-
provement approaches, such as kaizen and Total Productive Maintenance. The development of an adequate data
source that feeds the data into the dashboard is also considered in the procedure. In order to achieve an effective
dashboard, its development should consider the level of quality maturity of the company, as well as, the maturity
of the information and communication system. The proposed procedure assists SMEs in achieving a dashboard to
improve the performance of productive areas, improving productive information and communication and pro-
moting a culture of continuous improvement at shop floor level.

1. Introduction
In the last decades, the industry has experienced a high degree of
changes of different nature due to the increase of economic, political,
social and environmental pressures. The customer and other stake-
holders’ requirements force industries to keep up with these changes
and maintaining high levels of quality. A key element that supports
organizations to embrace these challenges is the adoption of continuous
improvement through a systematic, incremental and iterative way,
throughout the company, in their daily routines and involving all em-
ployees.
Kaizen is defined as a Japanese business philosophy of continuous
improvement, being globally used by organizations that have as ob-
jective a dynamic change for better [1]. It incorporates several tech-
niques, tools and methodologies that have been developed over time,
for the implementation of continuous improvement, including TPM.
TPM is a maintenance management methodology and its main activities
are organized in pillars. One of them is designated by ``specific and
focused improvements'' or “kobetsu kaizen” and includes activities that
maximize the effectiveness of equipment, processes and organization
through the elimination of waste, enabling performance improvement.
This pillar aims to achieve overall equipment effectiveness, which can
be measured by the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) indicator. In
addition to the OEE, several tools are also used to analyze losses and to
track the improvement process, such as the seven quality tools.
The main challenge for successful continuous improvement in-
itiatives is to develop a sustainable infrastructure that implements,
promotes and coordinates them. Visual Management can provide a
solid base in supporting these initiatives, through visualizing informa-
tion, displaying requirements, setting directions and guiding actions.
Dashboards are an example of the application of visual management
that proactively supports and improves decisions, keeps employees fo-
cused on main issues in their work and helps them improve perfor-
mance and achieve expected results [2]. It is supposed that the key
information displayed on dashboards be influential in the decision-
making activities of companies so, an appropriate design of the dash-
board is crucial. The term dashboard comes from the dashboard of a
vehicle as it presents the metrics that the driver needs to know, simi-
larly dashboards also present information from which managers and
employees can visually identify trends, patterns and anomalies about
the company [3]. Research has been carried out, focusing their evolu-
tion, purposes, categories, formats, as well highlighting the importance

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: b7238@algoritmi.uminho.pt (S. Vilarinho), ilopes@dps.uminho.pt (I. Lopes), sds@dps.uminho.pt (S. Sousa).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jii.2018.02.003
Received 30 September 2017; Received in revised form 5 January 2018; Accepted 19 February 2018
Available online 27 February 2018
2452-414X/ © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
S. Vilarinho et al.
of dashboard design and development [2–5]. However, the develop-
ment process should be explored, considering potential issues like data
availability and reliability, that would lead to some process change or
improvement and should be considered as part of the dashboard de-
velopment initiative [5].
The convergence of industrial production, information and com-
munication technologies, associated with the Industry 4.0, intends to
increase operational effectiveness as well as the development of new
business models, services, and products [6]. For the deployment of
Industry 4.0, some principles and key technologies are identified
guiding the evolution of intelligent production systems [7]. Dashboards
development and implementation can also contribute to integrate these
principles and technologies into company´s environment. Dashboards
are capable of showing the current state of the business across different
media, offering management a view of the business that exceeds tra-
ditional reports [8].
The current literature focused on the development of dashboards is
too complex for smaller companies [2,3,5]. In most cases, SMEs do not
have, an organized quality management system, manifesting a low level
of quality maturity [9]. This is reflected in several aspects, including the
level of maturity of information systems, compromising visual man-
agement. Other relevant SMEs characteristics were identified in a lit-
erature review by Zach et al. [10] and those that may have more impact
in visual management are: SMEs are constrained in terms of their fi-
nancial and human resources, the decision process is more intuitive and
based on experience, most of the activities are governed by informal
rules and procedures with a low degree of standardization and for-
malization. More specifically, at the information system characteristics
level, the authors point out: SMEs often lack the managerial expertise to
plan, organize and direct the use of information resources, many SMEs
possess insufficient in-house expertise for successful information system
adoption and, the information system function is traditionally per-
ceived to be in its earlier stage of evolution. Dashboards can be printed
or simply displayed on a variety of screens. However, to move towards
Industry 4.0, companies should feed dashboards with real-time data
and integrate them with companies´ databases.
In this sense, the process of dashboard development in the context
of SMEs should attend their particularities and main issues, considering
that in most cases they have low levels of quality maturity, and pos-
sibly, low maturity on the information system. Once procedures to
develop dashboards oriented to SMEs focusing in their particularities
are lacking in the literature, the processes of developing a dashboard
considering the level of maturity of the information system should be
explored.
Therefore, this paper presents a procedure to develop dashboards
for SMEs aimed at improving the performance of productive equipment
and processes, to be implemented at the shop floor level. The procedure
is an adaptation of the traditional product development process and is
based on several methodologies and tools for continuous improvement,
such as kaizen and TPM. This paper is an extended version of the re-
search presented by Vilarinho et al. [11].
The paper is structured as follows: in Section 2 a brief review of the
literature is presented, Section 3 presents the dashboard development
procedure; Section 4 presents the implementation of the proposed
procedure in a SME. Finally, in Section 5 the conclusions and sugges-
tions for future work are presented.
2. Literature review
2.1. Continuous improvement
Among several definitions of continuous improvement presented in
literature, the definition of the ISO 9000:2015 Quality management
systems - Fundamentals mentions “a set of recurring activities that are
carried out in order to enhance performance” and “can be achieved by
carrying out audits, self-assessments, and management reviews”. The
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Journal of Industrial Information Integration 12 (2018) 13–22
definition adds that continuous improvements “can also be realized by
collecting data, analyzing information, setting objectives, and im-
plementing corrective and preventive actions”. The importance and
evolution of continuous improvement are reflected in the existence of
several paradigms, methodologies, techniques and tools that have
emerged and have been improved so that organizations can better re-
spond to the competitiveness that is being lived [12]. Some of the most
notable methodologies to support continuous improvement are Total
Quality Management (TQM), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Six
Sigma and Lean Manufacturing. These have much in common at the
level of principles, techniques and tools, differing essentially in the area
that improvement should be made [12].
Continuous improvement is an expression also known by the
Japanese term kaizen, that is used globally by organizations that focus
on ``involving everyone, everywhere, to make changes for the better,
every day'' [1]. Imai [1] emphasizes the relevance of the Gemba, a Ja-
panese term that means the place where the products are manu-
factured. The improvement movements should come from both, man-
agement to Gemba and from Gemba to management since there are
numerous opportunities to make the company successful [1]. The
adoption of kaizen by organizations may have different starting points
and rhythms of progress, however the initiatives tend to achieve a si-
milar position [13]. Miller et al. [13] identify three main types of
kaizen: kaizen project; kaizen support and daily kaizen. The kaizen
project embraces the activities of temporary teams working on kaizen
events, the introduction of new products, among other projects. The
main goal of the kaizen project is to achieve rapid performance im-
provement and financial results. The kaizen support includes strategy
development, planning, training, recognition and management activ-
ities that are necessary to guide the success of kaizen. The support
kaizen purpose is to support strategic and guiding activities, with a
secondary focus on ensuring that collaborators are achieving better
results through daily kaizen. The daily kaizen includes small cycles of
activities improvement, including suggestions programs, teams based
on frontline problem solving and maintenance of standards. Although
the financial benefits of daily kaizen are relatively small when com-
pared to other types of kaizen, it is considered fundamental for long-
term sustainability [13].
TPM is a maintenance management methodology, considered by
Imai [1] a relevant system for obtaining a successful kaizen strategy.
Nakajima [14] defines TPM as ``an innovative approach to main-
tenance that optimizes equipment effectiveness, eliminates malfunc-
tions, and promotes autonomous maintenance by operators through
day-to-day activities involving the total workforce''. The main activities
of TPM are organized in eight pillars [14]. The kobetsu kaizen pillar is
one of them and aims to eliminate all types of losses. The identification,
analysis and elimination of losses incurred in equipment operation
allow improving equipment effectiveness, aiming to achieve zero losses.
[15]. Ahuja et al. [16] identify several activities associated with this
pillar, such as identification and elimination of losses related to
equipment, labor and raw material, calculate, set targets for the OEE
and promote its improvement and mitigation of losses. Nakajima [14]
refers to OEE as ``a bottom-up approach where an integrated workforce
strives to achieve overall equipment effectiveness by eliminating'' six
large losses. For the OEE calculation, three factors are considered:
availability, performance and quality.
Aiming at problems identification in the industrial context,
Marksberry et al. [17] emphasize that a structured problem-solving
approach has a direct correlation with the organization's performance
[17]. There are several approaches to problem-solving. Some of the
most common approaches are PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act), 8D (eight
disciplines) and DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve). Several
tools can support problem-solving, which range from common sense
and creativity to the seven basic tools [18]. Beyond the use of con-
tinuous improvement methodologies and tools, the existence of small
groups of improvement activities at the shop floor level stands out. In
S. Vilarinho et al.
general, these groups are in charge of working together to improve the
company performance by solving problems and managing specific
manufacturing areas, equipment or processes. Shirose et al. [19]
highlight the existence and importance of teams at different levels. The
various teams should be organized in order to guarantee the link be-
tween them and close communication throughout the organization. The
same author identifies three fundamental ``weapons'' to effectively
support teams: one-point lessons meetings and activity boards or pa-
nels.
2.2. Visual management based on dashboard
Visual management is a management system that strives to improve
organizational performance by aligning the company vision, funda-
mental values, objectives and organizational culture with other man-
agement systems, work processes and elements, and finally stake-
holders, through stimuli. Corbin et al. [20] present a number of
practices that can be part of the visual workplaces, among which there
are some that have a strong performance management subject into it,
such as manual or digital panels. Visual panels are a type of visual
elements that appear in the literature named with different terms:
boards [21], activity boards [22], panels (manual or digital) [20] and
dashboards [3,5]. In this paper, the term dashboard is adopted to name
this type of visual element.
In general, dashboards can be defined as a graphical user interface
that comprehends measures of business performance to enable decision
making. Yigitbasioglu [3] present a more complete definition: “a visual
and interactive performance management tool that displays on a single
screen the most important information to achieve one or several in-
dividuals and/or organizational objectives, allowing the user to iden-
tify, explore, and communicate problem areas that need corrective ac-
tions”. With this tool, it is possible to promote the participation of all in
the improvement process [3]. From Eckerson's perspective [2], dash-
boards have three fundamental purposes: to monitor critical activities
and processes using metrics that trigger for alerts when performance
falls short of established goals, to analyze the root causes of problems
by exploiting relevant and timely provided information through several
perspectives and levels of detail, to manage people and processes to
improve decisions and lead the organization in the right direction.
Eckerson [2] highlights that not all dashboards are necessarily built on
Business Intelligent infrastructures, existing different types of infra-
structure and data source management systems that can provide data
into the dashboards. Data sources can range from a relational data
source to a simple text file [5]. It must be highlighted that solving
problems when developing and applying information infrastructure for
manufacturing, contributes to facilitating the industrial information
integration process [23].
In literature, several categorizations for dashboards are identified.
For example, Suzaki [24] presents the following categories: company
evolution, performance and improvement actions, project status, gen-
eral information and photographs of the shop floor, etc. Dashboards
adopted by organizations can be categorized in one of those categories
or may be the result of a mixture of elements from each of them. Bititci
et al. [25] present a classification for dashboards, depending on the
level (strategic or operational) and the theme (planning or progress) for
which it is intended. In their study, a transversal approach is developed
that integrates visual management at the strategic level and at the
operational level. According to the authors, the approaches of visual
management at the strategic level are usually static, mainly in com-
munication from top to bottom.
Visual methods always imply some risks, such as the possible mis-
understanding of visual information. Therefore, the design stage is
considered a critical phase to tackle possible visualization risks and to
make them effective [25]. Several researchs have been conducted on
the importance of panel design, development and implementation.
Pauwels et al. [4] clarify what dashboards are, how should they be
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Journal of Industrial Information Integration 12 (2018) 13–22
developed, the drivers and the obstacles to their adoption, recognizing
the applicability of dashboards in all areas of companies to support
decision making. Their work emphasizes the importance of dashboards,
given the rapid growth of dashboard implementation in large compa-
nies. Eckerson [2] and Rasmussen et al. [26] issued practitioner-or-
iented publications. Eckerson [2] explains how to best apply perfor-
mance dashboards to optimize results, taking into account that
organizations have been interested in dashboards, using business in-
telligence and data integration tools and technologies. Rasmussen et al.
[26] focus essentiality on the development of dashboard technology for
midsize and large companies, with valuable metrics and graphical
components to support employees in improving performance. Allio [27]
identifies common difficulties in strategic dashboard design and ap-
plication, and recommend guidelines to improve dashboard design,
scope, use and impact. The author focuses on dashboards that support
managers capture meaningful data to improve the implementation of
business strategy. Concerning common data problems, the author
stresses that an initial investment in enabling infrastructure helps to
keep accurate data and reinforces its value.
Yigitbasioglu et al. [3] provide a literature review concerning the
role of dashboards as decision support tools in performance manage-
ment and identify possible design issues that should be addressed by
organizations wanting to develop and implement dashboards. The au-
thors argue that the identification of dashboards’ purposes allows a
functional adjustment of their features (visual and functional). Func-
tional features allow a cognitive adjustment with different types of
users, and visual characteristics allow to improve the process of vi-
sualization and interpretation of information. Finally, the features of
the dashboard enable visual interpretation and information decoding
which promotes decision support in performance management. Yi-
gitbasioglu et al. [3] stress that the dashboard should be interactive and
flexible, taking into account the various purposes for which it is in-
tended. They also alert that it is necessary to be aware of the effect of
information overload once dashboard users utilize presented informa-
tion to support their decisions. Therefore, dashboard contents which
distract the users’ focus on the key dashboard information should be
avoided.
In literature, although there is information about the development
and implementation of dashboards, it is commonly focused on large
companies with advanced information systems. Also, dashboards are
frequently considered part of a business intelligence system which in-
cludes a wide set of complex tools and technologies. Compared to large
enterprises, SMEs differ in communication and information procedures
and other characteristics which have an influence on the dashboards
development process. Therefore, remaining approaches are too so-
phisticated for the SMEs reality, once they require data and technolo-
gies not often available. In addition, these approaches are essentially
directed to executives and managers. Developing dashboards involves
dealing with issues strongly related to organizational capabilities or
system maturity. Maturity models characterize organizations maturity
assigning levels in different maturity classes. One of the earliest ma-
turity models is Crosby's Quality Management Maturity Grid, which
suggests that companies were likely to evolve through five phases in
their ascent to quality management excellence [28]. Subsequently,
other models were introduced, describing different stages, similar to
evolutionary stages, which enable improvements in process quality. For
instance, maturity models are increasingly being applied within the
information system field, in order to easily and objectively measure the
current maturity of information system that supports the business and
to plan for improving its practices [29]. The identification of the level of
maturity of a company with respect to quality and information system
allows understanding strengths and weaknesses of company´s key
capabilities. In turn, this knowledge can help to identify improvement
and innovation actions, influencing dashboards development.
Therefore, dashboards oriented to SMEs focusing on their particu-
larities, including their maturity, are lacking in the literature.
S. Vilarinho et al. Journal of Industrial Information Integration 12 (2018) 13–22

Dashboards development is also uncommon when aimed to involve stages of the diagnosis are similar to the typical stages in the audit
workers from shop floor level in activities that improve the perfor- process: preparation, execution, results analysis and synthesis.
mance of productive areas. This way, the presented procedure and its The preparation stage includes the collection of information about
application in a company is a contribution in this scope. the company, in order to understand the organizational environment,
the priority needs, the particular objectives, the products that the
company provides, company´s processes, the size and the organiza-
3. Dashboard development procedure
tional structure. This first stage also includes the definition of the
borders, to define relevant company´s departments to be considered,
The proposed dashboard development procedure is based on the
and the stakeholders’ selection to be integrated into the project team.
classical product development process, in particular, on the systematic
Stakeholders selection should consider those who share relevant ideas,
approach to product development process, proposed by Pahl and Beitz
experiences and knowledge in the dashboard development, and can
[30], which has become one of the most internationally accepted. These
participate in the future dashboard implementation. Finally, the pre-
authors outline the main phases of product development, from task
paration stage includes interviews preparation to perform on the en-
clarification phase, through conceptual design up to the final embodi-
vironment's company in order to obtain in-depth information referring
ment and detail design phases. Task clarification phase involves col-
to participants’ points of view and experiences.
lecting information about the requirements that have to be fulfilled by
The execution stage includes semi-structured interviews, participa-
the product and also identifying existing constraints and their sig-
tive observation, meetings with employees from several hierarchy le-
nificance. The conceptual design phase and subsequent phases should
vels and finally, company´s information gathering and analysis.
be based on the identified requirements which must be updated con-
Relevant information is mostly associated with the quality management
tinuously. The conceptual design determines the concept of which the
system of the company, such as documents on quality policy and ob-
construction structure (overall layout) of a technical system is achieved,
jectives, quality manual if it exists, documented procedures and re-
on the embodiment design phase. The detail design phase completes the
cords, among others. Company´s system information should also be
embodiment of the product with complete production and operating
analyzed, in order to know and understand technologies and, commu-
procedures [30].
nication and information procedures used by the company, particularly
The defined phases of the proposed procedure to develop dash-
at shop floor level. After obtaining and analyzing results, a synthesis
boards for SMEs to be implemented at shop floor level and focused on
should be performed, focusing company´s fragilities, improvement op-
productive areas are (Fig. 1):
portunities and suggestions to the dashboard.
- Diagnosis of the productive areas – to understand the SME´s current
status, to identify priority improvement actions and to collect em-
3.2. Dashboard requirements assessment
ployee´s suggestions to the dashboard;
- Dashboard requirements assessment – to clarify in an objective way
The identification of dashboard requirements has the purpose of
the requirements that have to be fulfilled by the dashboard, given
understanding the stakeholders’ needs to ensure that those are met with
the diagnosis results, the literature, and the project team know-how;
the final result. The dashboard should be developed proactively,
- Dashboard layout development – to convert the identified require-
avoiding gaps between the stakeholders’ expectations and the final
ments into technical solutions, performing and refining layouts until
version. To define its characteristics, the results obtained in the diag-
achieving the most satisfactory solutions;
nostic phase, as well as, the experience of the project team and the
- Dashboard implementation and improvement – to test the design
information collected in the literature should be considered. Firstly, the
dashboard and the developed resources for its implementation,
obvious requirements are defined and recorded and then, they are re-
evaluating their performance and performing improvements.
fined and extended. Refining requirements imply clarifying the objec-
tives that the solution must satisfy and also the properties that dash-
Each phase should be planned, executed and evaluated. The results
board must and must not have. A dashboard requirements list should be
obtained in one phase are the starting point to the next phase. This way,
arranged in a clear way and have into account objections and amend-
the objectives and main actions that should be considered in each phase
ments [30]. It is suggested that requirements be organized on the fol-
are described below.
lowing items: purpose, user characteristics, visual characteristics,
functional characteristics, contents and decision-making [3]. These
3.1. Diagnosis of the productive areas items should not be very strictly formalized, being only the means to
prevent relevant issues to be forgotten and to provide a supporting
A diagnosis should be performed to assess and understand the cur- structure. In order to achieve an effective performance, relevant com-
rent state of the company productive areas and to identify improvement ponents of the company´s strategy such as goals and objectives, metrics
opportunities. It also intends to gather suggestions for the dashboard and targets, plans and initiatives should be analyzed, considering some
and to define priorities that should be taken into account. The main of them as part of the dashboard contents [2].

Dashboard Dashboard
Diagnosis of Dashboard layout
requirements implementation
productive areas development
assessment and improvement

Fig. 1. Defined phases for the dashboard development procedure.

16
S. Vilarinho et al.
3.3. Dashboard layout development
The main purpose of this phase is the conversion of the require-
ments in technical solutions, presented through a dashboard layout and
associated support tools, particularly, the data source that feed the data
into the dashboard. In this phase, the concept and the layout are spe-
cified.
The concept is achieved and then, several preliminary layouts are
produced in order to obtain more information about different variants.
Refining and improving layouts and evaluating technical and economic
criteria, the best layout design can be achieved [30]. Benchmarking,
basic research and creativity are examples of approaches that can
support the development of the dashboard layout.
It is crucial that the dashboard features (visual and functional) and
the contents fit with the dashboard purpose, as well as, consider user´s
characteristics. Dashboard features have to be defined in order to suc-
cessfully support visual interpretation and information decoding.
Adding to that, dashboard contents have to be defined in order to
promote the decision support in performance management and support
activities under the continuous improvement process, in an effective
way.
Dashboards have implicit performance measurement once it intends
to communicate strategic objectives and enable company´s employees
to measure, monitor, and manage key activities and processes.
Therefore, it is also crucial to select and use effective metrics that
trigger alerts when performance falls below predefined targets (the
desired state at a particular point in time) and populate them with clean
and valid data. Dashboards commonly show performance indicators,
which are metrics that measure how well an activity is executed by
comparing results to a strategic goal. Indicators are classified into two
major types: leading and lagging indicators. Leading indicators measure
activities that have a significant effect on future performance. Lagging
indicators, such as most financial metrics, measure the output of past
activity [2]. Different types of indicators should be included in a
dashboard, to ensure a mix of past and current, as well as, future per-
formance measures (monitoring the planning and preparation of ac-
tions that would occur in the future) [31]. As a starting point in the
selection of the indicators that will be presented in the dashboard,
metrics associated to overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) are sug-
gested, given their potentialities on improving the performance of
productive equipment and processes.
It is also intended that dashboards be a sustainable infrastructure
that implements, promotes and coordinates using methodologies and
tools for continuous improvement, particularity kaizen and TPM. In this
sense, in addition to the selection of the indicators to be presented in
the dashboard, it is necessary to identify which and how to display
more related information and others contents. Also, relevant activities
should be defined, based on continuous improvement approaches that
can be supported by the information presented on the dashboard (e.g.,
five-minute meetings, one point lessons, employee suggestion program,
structured problem-solving activities, among others).
3.4. Dashboard implementation and improvement
After achieving the dashboard layout follows the development and
implementation of the necessary resources for dashboard construction
and implementation. This phase also involves tests to ensure that the
obtained dashboard, its support tools, underlying activities and its
management activities are as expected and successful. This, in turn, will
unleash improvement opportunities in order to achieve more robust
versions.
There should be an initial concern to ensure that complete and
properly organized productive records are maintained so that it is
possible to feed reliable data into the dashboard. This includes a com-
prehensive analysis of the existing records in order to identify gaps and
achieve solutions to face them. The records should be properly
17
Journal of Industrial Information Integration 12 (2018) 13–22
compiled into the company´s information system. A data source that
feeds data into the dashboard, integrated into the company´s informa-
tion system should be considered. This allows an adequate analysis and
treatment of the information and facilitates the organization and
management of the information planned to be presented on the dash-
board.
Key factors for the dashboard management can be synthesized in a
document which clarifies the main dashboard management activities:
responsible, update periods, activities to be performed, required inputs
and desired outputs. In addition, at this phase, improvement initiatives
that are intended to be supported by the dashboard should be analyzed,
in order to explore and ensure necessary resources and mechanisms to
enable them to be effectively implemented.
Finally, in this phase, the function for the generation of information
to be presented on the dashboard should be tested. The information
relevance should be evaluated, as well as, the activities for dashboard
management and the activities to be carried out with the support of the
dashboard. The identification and implementation of improvement
actions also make part of this phase.
4. Procedure implementation in a SME
The pilot project was carried out in a foundry, ISO/TS 16949:2009
certified, that produces aluminum alloys parts, through die-casting
processes, for the automotive industry, telecommunications, railway
transport, among others. As support activities, the company also carries
out finishing, assembly and painting (subcontracted processes). The
company is a SME and has between 100 and 120 employees who work
in three shifts per day and produces mainly for international markets. In
Portugal, the country where the selected company operates, SMEs are
recognized as a pillar of the national economy. In this country, the
SMEs are prominent in the industrial sector, representing over 99% of
all firms [32].
The main company departments are Administration and Financial,
Commercial, Human Resources, Product Engineering, Maintenance,
Quality, and Production. Production activities are carried out in specific
areas named Foundry, Mechanization, Finishes and Final Control.
Concerning the company´s processes required for the quality manage-
ment system, they are carefully defined in order to ensure its operation
and control. For the main processes, a set of key performance indicators
are defined and applied, having a relevant role in management deci-
sion. Company managers value the process of continuous improvement,
revealing an interest in adopting new approaches that enhance the
improvement of productive processes and equipment. Currently, some
quality improvement methodologies and tools, such as PDCA cycle, 5S
and the seven basic quality tools are used in the company.
The implementation of the proposed procedure on the SME is de-
tailed in the following subsections, which correspond to the defined
procedure phases.
4.1. Diagnosis of the productive areas
A diagnostic synthesis was performed, organizing information on
the following topics: productive equipment and processes, resources
and information, communication and suggestions for the dashboard.
The company is divided into several departments and this project
was essentially focused on the Production, Quality and Maintenance
departments. Production areas are divided in: Foundry; Mechanization,
Finishes and Final Control. Productive equipment is localized on the
Foundry and Mechanization areas. The processes more relevant to the
project were those associated with the production management and
continuous improvement. Those processes were analyzed, in particular,
their objectives, performance indicators, inputs, outputs, resources,
information, activities and methods that were used to perform process
measurements, monitoring and analysis. It was found that information
should be improved in production areas, to ensure a better and more
S. Vilarinho et al.
effective planning, operation and control of their processes and
equipment. Concerning the existing performance indicators, they
should be revised and complemented to be more consistent with the
defined processes’ objectives.
In terms of resources and information, it was verified that in-
formation is not uniform among various production areas. The Foundry
is the area that has more information available. In other production
areas, it was identified the need to develop a systematic way to make
records that guarantee the control of the effectiveness of the productive
processes and equipment. These records are manually inserted in data
form, mostly developed in the company (e.g. Excel ® files). However,
these data files are not developed in a systematic and standardized way
and consequently, decision making can be based on incomplete and
unreliable information. Therefore, the company should improve its
information system to allow gathering reliable data from productive
areas and convert such data into useful information for better decision
making.
The communication among department heads, section heads and
workers is done in an informal way. Meetings related to the production
process are performed between department heads on a weekly and
monthly basis. Also regarding the communication, there are placards
located on the shop floor with information to employees. However, the
need for a more meaningful way of sharing information as well as the
involvement of employees in activities that promote continuous im-
provement was recognized. Therefore, the dashboard development
must have in consideration the actual maturity level of the company
information system, avoiding the development of a complex dashboard
not aligned with the resources and information that the company may
allocate.
In addition to these findings, suggestions were also identified for the
dashboard. The revision and creation of new records sheets were pro-
posed, allowing workers to register relevant information for the control
of the effectiveness of the processes and equipment. In order to mini-
mize the number of nonconforming products, a more detailed analysis
was suggested, such as the identification of the most critical references
and the identification of the most common defect types for each of these
references. The suggestion to start monitoring the OEE indicator in
some Foundry equipment was made and, when the process is stabilized,
extends the procedure to the remaining productive equipment.
Although there are placards on the shop floor, they need to be
complemented, developing and implementing a dashboard at shop floor
level. The dashboard should be projected to carry out several activities
such as five-minute meetings at the beginning of the shift, to promote
sharing and discussion among employees, mechanisms that expose
problems to promote an active and autonomous participation of op-
erators in problem-solving activities and one-point lessons.
A synthesis of the performed diagnosis was communicated to re-
levant people in the organization and linked to the project, in order to
be used to understand the current state of the productive areas and
define its future direction.
4.2. Dashboard requirements assessment
The identified requirements were based on results obtained in the
diagnostic phase, on the experience of the project team (quality,
maintenance and production department heads), as well as, on the in-
formation collected in literature. Table 1 synthesizes the main identi-
fied requirements according to the items: purpose, user characteristics,
functional and visual features, contents and support in decision-making.
4.3. Dashboard layout definition
In this phase, the identified requirements were converted into
technical solutions, presented through dashboard layouts and drafts of
the support tools that generate the information to be presented on the
dashboard. The layouts initially developed were refined and improved,
18
Journal of Industrial Information Integration 12 (2018) 13–22
responding to the new ideas and proposed adjustments. Those ideas and
adjustments resulted, essentially, from work meetings with the stake-
holders, in particular with the heads of production, quality and main-
tenance department's heads, quality technicians and other workers
delegated to manage and monitor the dashboard in the future. The
performed adjustments also took into consideration the resources and
information in the company, at the moment of the dashboard devel-
opment process. Some resources and information still could not be in-
tegrated into the dashboard layouts, because they were being devel-
oped or improved. Some examples were: records of productive areas
that were being developed in order to achieve complete and accurate
productive records and data, new indicators that were intended to
implement but were dependent of the referred improvements on the
records, parts of the information system related to productive areas that
intended to be more complete and robust, among others. Although this,
the drafted layouts were enough flexible that these resources and in-
formation can be integrated on the dashboard, in the future.
The obtained dashboard layout is oriented to the shop floor level of
the company and for the SMEs in general. This is reflected in its features
and contents, which are also based on continuous improvement ap-
proaches, in particular, kaizen and TPM. As result, the dashboard
layout contains four main zones, defined taking into account the in-
formation update frequency and the nature of the contents. In turn,
each of the zones can be divided into several areas that are defined
considering the purpose of the contents. The four main zones are
named: Monthly/Weekly Kaizen, Daily Kaizen, Others and Head. The
Monthly/Weekly Kaizen zone has the objective to present information
to be updated monthly or weekly. This zone is divided into three areas:
Trends; Current Status and Improvement Actions. The purpose of the
Trends area is to present the evolution, over the months or weeks, of
indicators that were selected taking into account their relevance in the
performance of productive processes and equipment. The Current
Status area has the purpose of supporting the analysis of certain si-
tuations in a more detailed way, through the use of basic quality tools.
The Improvement Actions area is meant to record actions, identified
through the analysis of information provided from the other areas and
zones of the dashboard. Fig. 2 shows the layout of the Monthly and
Weekly Kaizen zone.
The Daily Kaizen zone has the objective of sharing information to be
updated daily, as well as, support daily preventive and corrective ac-
tivities based on the presented information. The contents of this zone
are related to daily goals, per productive area and per shift. In this zone
the number of parts to be produced (per productive area, per shift), the
number of parts actually produced and the number of conforming and
nonconforming parts can be recorded. Possible deviations verified in
relation to the targets serve as a basis for alerts and analysis of the
problematic situations. Consequently, the structured problem-solving
process can be trigger promoting improvement actions. Fig. 3 shows the
layout of the Daily Kaizen zone.
The Others zone provides different information, resulting from the
combination of various elements, such as awards, project status point,
photos, training plan, reports related with meetings, dashboard in-
structions for its management, among others. This zone can also sup-
port shop floor team activities carried out by teams at the top, middle
and shop floor levels and create a more satisfying workplace. Several
teams were being defined in the context of the company, in which the
leader of a team is a member of a team at the next level, linking dif-
ferent teams and assuring close communication through all the com-
pany. These team activities can include short and frequent meetings
with defined agenda items (e.g. progress toward objectives; problematic
situations; improvement action plans; expected results, etc.). These
team activities can also embrace one-point lessons which are short and
focused lessons.
Finally, Header zone allows the identification of the dashboard re-
sponsible or members of teams that participle in continuous improve-
ment supported by the dashboard. The dashboard also has white spaces

Table 1
Synthesis of identified requirements for the dashboard.
Purpose
Monitoring, measurement, analysis, and
improvement of productive processes
and equipment to achieve planned
results.
Control of nonconforming products in each
production area, promoting activities to
deal with problems of nonconforming
products.
Analyze relevant information to demonstrate
19
the consistency and effectiveness of the
productive equipment and processes.
Identification of problems and support
problems solving approaches.
Promote continuous improvement activities,
considering the quality policy, quality
objectives, audit results, analysis of data,
among others.
Manage employees associated with
productive areas, engage them in
improving decision-making and improve
the overall performance.
Users characteristics
Information displayed in the dashboard, as well
as associated activities should be able to be
easily understood for all.
The expected users are operators associated with
productive areas, quality technicians, persons
responsible for production areas and persons
responsible for quality, maintenance and
production departments.
Functional and visual features
Dashboard presentation format should consider
the level of maturity of the information system,
and consequently can be a board to post
information manually, being the information
mainly generated by the digital support.
Information presented in a simple and appealing
way in order to ensure understanding and
involvement of the users.
Information presented through trend charts and
others graphics; quality tools; tables; images;
white space; among others.
Presented information must respect principles of
visualizing data, allowing that information can
be quickly and easily understand by anybody
(e.g. proper colors, data-to-ink ration, text types,
2D and 3D graphics, etc.).
S. Vilarinho et al.
Contents Support in decision-making
Information about the technical and managerial Effective decision making based on
performance of the productive processes and the analysis of accurate and reliable
equipment (e.g. leading and lagging indicators) information.
OEE indicator and the three factors that integrate Timely access to information to
it should be considered. those who need it, in order to react
quickly to critical situations and
opportunities.
Information and activities that enables interaction Taking action based on a balance
of employees, both horizontally (on the shop floor among factual information,
level) and vertically (between different hierarchy experience and common sense.
levels) (e.g. meeting schedule; report of relevant
meetings, etc.).
Daily information about production goals,
nonconforming products and alerts, in the
different productive areas (e.g. produced and
nonconforming products, per area and per work
shift).
Information and activities that enable users to
understand their impact on productive processes,
engaging them in the continuous improvement
process (quality tools, problem-solving tools, plan
for improvement actions; employee suggestion
program, etc.).
Journal of Industrial Information Integration 12 (2018) 13–22
S. Vilarinho et al. Journal of Industrial Information Integration 12 (2018) 13–22

Fig. 2. Part of the layout dashboard related to monthly and weekly kaizen.

to support the analysis and treatment of existing information, among
other activities. Fig. 4 presents a global dashboard layout, showing the
distribution of the main zones and areas.
4.4. Dashboard implementation and improvement
The dashboard presentation format is based on a board to post in-
formation manually, being the information essentially generated in
digital support, i.e. in an Excel ® file specifically developed to ag-
gregates the data needed to generate updated information for printing
and posting on the dashboard. The file is organized in several tabs to
manage and update the dashboard information in an easy way (Fig. 5).
General tabs, named “General view” and “Usage guide”, intend to
support the user in understanding and managing the file. The “Data”
tab aggregates the data needed to generate information on the re-
maining tabs. These remaining tabs are specific tabs grouped into four
groups, just as the dashboard is organized into four zones. Each of those
tabs is associated with the zones and the areas of the dashboard. The
information on each of these tabs is ready to be printed on sheets A3 or
A4 to place on the dashboard in the space defined for this purpose. The
Excel ® file was developed to be easy to understand and use by any
collaborator with basic computer skills. It also intends to be functional
and take a short time in updating the data, as well as, convert these data
into relevant information. Finally, it should be noted that the content of
the tabs, in particular of the specific tabs, can easily be adapted to the
company´s needs and stakeholders´ new ideas.

Fig. 3. Part of the layout dashboard related to daily Kaizen.

20
S. Vilarinho et al.
Fig. 4. Global dashboard layout adapted to the company.
In order to allow that the Excel ® file is properly complete and
functional, the records that were filled on the shop floor by the workers
in the four Production sections and have to be collected on the com-
pany's information system were identified and analyzed. Subsequently,
a relationship was established between the current records and the
necessary ones. Based on this process, it was possible to identify records
that should be made in each section of the production. These records
were being posteriorly implemented, improving productive data and
information, as well as making the company's information system more
complete and robust. The restructuration of the information system was
carefully made to facilitate its connection with the Excel ® file devel-
oped to support the dashboard.
In addition, it was important to identify and define key factors for
the dashboard management to ensure the necessary and appropriate
resources for its operation. Thus, in a final phase, for each zone of the
dashboard, the following information was identified: the person in
charge, update periods, activities to perform, required inputs and de-
sired outputs.
This activity served as a guide for the management of the dashboard
and allowed detecting fragilities and opportunities for improvement in
the whole process associated with the use of the dashboard.
In the time allocated to the project, the Excel ® file and printing
information to post on the dashboard were tested. To deploy the
dashboard on the shop floor, a strategical point of the productive areas
Fig. 5. Excel ® file to generate data needed to generate an update dashboard information.
21
Journal of Industrial Information Integration 12 (2018) 13–22
was selected and instructions for the dashboard management were
defined. The SME intended to continue the implementation during a
significant period of time to evaluate and improve its performance. The
activities and improvements performed allowed improving the pro-
duction information system and performance management of produc-
tive areas.
5. Conclusions
The existing procedures to develop dashboards are commonly fo-
cused on large companies with advanced information systems and are
too complex for SMEs reality. Compared to large enterprises, SMEs
manifest a lower level of maturity on quality and information systems.
This and other SMEs characteristics should be considered during
dashboards development to achieve proper and successful dashboards.
In this paper, a procedure to develop dashboards in the context of SMEs
was presented. The procedure assists these companies to achieve sui-
table dashboards for improving the production areas information and
communication, and also improve their performance.
The proposed procedure consists of several phases: diagnosis of the
production area; dashboard requirements assessment; dashboard layout
development; dashboard implementation and improvement. The pro-
cedure application in a SME contributed to identifying gaps in the
company´s information system, driving the development and
S. Vilarinho et al.
implementation of new production records on productive areas.
Consequently, the restructuration on the information system was per-
formed to integrate all data from the production areas. As a result of
these restructurings, it was possible to generate complete, accurate and
uniform data and information, among various production areas. This
revealed itself as a crucial process to ensure needed inputs to dashboard
implementation.
Based on the identified dashboard requirements, it was possible to
understand that the company wished a combination of the three types
of the dashboard: operational, tactical and strategic. The dashboard
layout is based on the principles of Visual Management, kaizen and
TPM to achieve an interactive performance management to the shop
floor level that enables a continuous improvement in productive areas.
Supporting tools were used, including a data file that aggregates data
needed to generate and update the information to post on the dash-
board. Therefore, it was also identified team activities to be supported
by the dashboard that involves employees from several hierarchical
levels (e.g. meetings). Finally, key factors for the dashboard manage-
ment were defined and resulted in a guide for the dashboard manage-
ment.
In the time allocated to the project, the implementation of the
dashboard was begun on the SME, and the company intended to con-
tinue the implementation for a significant period of time to evaluate
and improve its performance. The performed activities allowed to im-
prove the production information system and the performance man-
agement. So, the application of this procedure was successful and ef-
fective to develop a dashboard adjusted to the reality of the company.
The procedure presented in this paper to design and develop
dashboards is substantially different from most assessment models
available in the literature since it focuses on the particularities of the
SMEs. In addition, the procedure integrates continuous improvement
approaches that result in relevant improvements in production areas.
Giving its simplicity and comprehensiveness the procedure can be ap-
plied in other industries with the same objective. As a future work, it is
aimed to develop and implement the dashboard in other SMEs to
identify improvement opportunities that could lead to a more robust
version of the proposed procedure.
Acknowledgments
This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-
007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the
Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013.
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