[BISSIPRACTICES BY JILL JUSKO More Than Meets The Eye THE VISUAL WORKPLACE’S UNHERALDED BENEFITS INCLUDE AN EMPOWERED WORKFORCE, AND SUSTAINED MANUFACTURING IMPROVEMENT. Rolls-Royce PLC helps ‘establish visual control using labels, shadow boxes and color (see Page 77) aa plant in Germany, where it piloted its visual ‘methodology. 74 IW OCTOBER 2005 IE VISUAL WORKPLACE, SAYS GWENDOLYN Tr Galsworth, is “like this voluptuous ‘woman draped in veils, and every time you take another veil off” it reveals new facets, Galsworth, author of “Visual Systems: Harnessing the Power of a Visual Workpla (1997, AMACOM) has been engrossed in the field of visual thinking for 22 years and says it still is “continually coughing up new surprises and wonderful new benefits.” For those unfamiliar with the field. Galsworth defines a visual workplace as “a work environment that is self-explaining self-ordering, self-regulating and self-im- proving—where what is supposed to happen does happen on time, every time, day or night because of visual devices.” Those visual devices can include colored labels on shelves, lines on the floor and per- haps hundreds of other mechanisms that di rect or influence people’s behavior without a word being spoken. They help bring order to the work environment and information to the point of use, thus enhancing efficiency and reducing wasted effort However, says Galsworth, president of Beaverton, Ore.-based Quality Methods In- ternational Inc., few manufacturing firms reap the full benefits of a visual workplace. “Because ‘visuality’ is a physical change in the actual work environment that is... . very effective, companies sometimes mistake the merest beginning of the journey for its com- pletion,” she says, Companies see some of the immediate benefits—cleanliness, reduced accidents, re- duced need for micromanaging—but fail to see visuality’s wider purpose, which is “to remedy chronic information deficits at work and to align the workforce with the corporate will,” Galsworth says. In short, companies may be too quickly sat- isfied with the results of their visual efforts. The visual systems expert says a comprehen sive effort to ingrain visuality throughout the workplace reveals its additional benefits: a workforce of visual thinkers. That is, an in- ventive workforce that does not simply re- spond to visual signals, but which takes on the task of developing better w: veloping their workspaces. Without this, “thousands of ideas may be missed,” Galsworth says. Rolls-Royce PLC sees other benefits. The London-based manufacturer of engines and power generation systems faces a dilemma to Which every manufacturer can relate: Itinitiates improvement efforts that yield positive results, yet maintaining those manufacturing gains proves daunting. “We have done umpteen im- provements since the early ’80s, and we have struggled to sustain them,” explains Rolls- Royce business analyst Stephen Pollard. Now the company believes it has found a solution. Rather than using simply intervention tools for use in certain ar- ys of visually de- ‘sual practices asBa JRACTICES as, Rolls-Royce has developed a comprehensive visual methodology it has begun deploying throughout the company. The model delivers total vi- sual control over every aspect of man- ufacturing, from the process itself all the vay through the cell, ays Pollard, think the manufacturing commu- nity overall does not see the true value of visual—and what I mean by visual is [the] power levels visuality gives you both from a communication point of view, from an instruction point of view, from a control point of view,” Pollard surmises. “Visuality is the only mechanism—the only ‘one—that sustains critical path value. ‘We can spend many years trying to get the best value out of our processes by changing or reorganizing our ma- chines, and instructing our people, and that is a pure value. But to sustain that value and to build upon it, you need visual power levels that are con- stantly instructing, guiding, telling the entire process and people.” ‘What the company strives for, says Peter Dobbs, Rolls-Royce director of operational transformation, is to cre- ate a plant that anyone can walk through and know immediately—at each machine—whether it’s on or off schedule, what the problems and is- sues are, what tools go with which {job and so on, “It’s more self-ex- planatory. It's a huge step from the traditional visuality as a control board,” he says. When you take visual control to that level, notes Dobbs, it creates em- powerment “almost across the board. People naturally start to improve that place which you’ve corrected. They come up with things you've never dreamed of.” Lean Manulactwelny: The Why and How Factory-floor tactics drive dramatic improvements for the 2003 IndustryWeek Best Plants winners. Witha median on-time rate of 9.98%, near-perfect delivery performance isa given for IN- Dusty WEEK’s 2003 Best Plan finalists.” Inthe efforts to speed customer-order fulfill- ment, most have reduced internal eyele times by one-third over the past three years. Those facilities in the upper quartile managed to cut cycle times in half over the same period. 1 2009 Census = BEST PLANTS** Three-year change ‘mfg, cyle imo, ceciesed note Than 20% Three-year change customer ld tie cecieased more than 20% Customer leatie, Tess than 5 days ‘When it comes to lean manufacturing, a piccemeal strategy won't work. Operational im- provements tha lead to real market advantage require a combination of tactics. Compared to their competitors, InoustRyWenK’s Best Plants** are more deeply committed and bet- terable to implement lean asa complete package. ‘© SOME ADOPTION — m WIDELY ADOPTED Thank systems wih supers nea pu yt wih aan nas Lom studing 8 ‘Strdardied wot Mertinwuston Feawsat ates Cor matting a RLM RESULTS NOLSTRYAEE/ARUFACTURI PERFORMANCE ETT 2003 CENSUS OF ALEACTRERS “PRACTICES, MEDI AND 51H PERCENTILE PSFCRUANCE METRICS AS REPORTED BYTES PLAST NOUSTRVWEECS 29 ES LATS COMPETTIIN MORE BENCHMARKING: For additional analysis, management practices and performance comparisons to INDUSTRY WEEK’ Best Plants in various opera tional areas—quality, employment practices, customer and supplier relations, ‘manufacturing, inventory control and cost management—check out the [W Path to Excellence benchmarking tool (www.industryweek.com/products/). 301 100%) 76 IW OCTOBER 2003 WWW.INDUSTRYWEEK.COMCopyright © 2003 EBSCO Publishing