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Introducing TXM Multifunction Visual Management Boards

TXM is famous for our expertise in Visual Workplace Management delivered through our highly effective Lean Daily Leadership Process®. Now we can offer the hardware to back this up with three new customisable visual management boards launched on the TXM E-Store this month.

These new board designs have been developed with customer input to create an effective visual system to improve work place processes. The E-store now offers a 5S System Board, a Large Visual Management Board and a Small Visual Management Board. The boards are designed to enable teams to communicate the status of their area quickly and clearly. They will help communicate problems and solutions for all to see during meetings making them more efficient and effective. Anthony Clyne, TXM Director has been instrumental in developing these visual boards

5S System Board

“This board is used to visualise the system of 5S within an area and defines who owns what area” says Anthony. TXM Practical 5S® workplace organisation is a simple, practical approach delivering sustainability by sorting out, setting in order, shining and checking, standardising and sustaining. Practical 5S® uses visuals to achieve its goal of a standardised system used by every stakeholder in the business. The new Practical 5S® board can be used to display before and after improvements areas as well as 5S issues and audit performance. “It is based on individual ownership and is often used to display one area at a time” says Anthony. “The 5S board is a key part of a sustainable Practical 5S® system” says Anthony

Visual Management Board for Lean Daily Leadership Process®

These new boards comes in two sizes. “These board designs been developed following years of hands on client experience”, explains Anthony.

The steel visual management boards allows magnets to stick and a eraser ball film is laminated over the board so it can be written on with white board markers. This board can be attached onto a wall or can be used with a free standing frame.

“Visual management boards enable quicker, more productive meetings by providing teams with the information they need in simple, easy to understand format that everyone can see. Visual boards can be integrated alongside with electronic screens. The manual white boards providing a provide a simple quick meeting forum while the electronic board can manage the task completion as well as detailed data analysis outside the lean daily leadership process” says Anthony .

“This board maintains the personal engagement element of a meeting. It enables people to agree on actions without hesitations, eye contact is maintained during whiteboard meetings while electronic based meetings tend to have people looking at screens. Magnetic concern strips adhere to these boards and can be easily updated by many people at the same time during a meeting” says. Anthony

How to Identify If Your Visual Management Board Really Works?

A Visual Management Board should contain three elements: standards, problems, and actions.

• Standard: In Lean, we set target performance as the standard, rather than average performance. The standards should be clearly indicated on the board, which tells how things should be if everything is perfect.
• Problem: What is the problem? Problem is the deviation from standard, either actual performance (e.g. lower than target), or the standard itself (improper target); One operations manager in an ice-cream factory told me that there’s no need for improvement as their efficiency is more than 120% every day. After my observations they had twice the number of operators than was needed on the production line.
• Actions: Countermeasures to a problem should be taken when there’s a problem. A Visual Management Board without action is definitely just a show board. How effectively the problems are addressed, and the actions are carried out, represents how efficient your organisation is.

“All these elements help the user to understand what’s actually going on in the work area. Only by making the things visible, it is possible to identify the deviations (problems) and quickly address and solve them”, says Justin Tao, TXM Senior Consultant.

What Does a Good Visual Management Board Look Like?

“At TXM, we believe that a good Visual Management Board should match the 31-second rule” says Justin:

• In 1 second, it can tell us if it’s normal (everything is fine in the work area), according to the standards (target or plan); The work area should “talk” to you in simple terms. Usually, companies use green to represent good status (e.g. hit the target, on time), and use red to represent problem status (e.g. lower than the target, delayed);
• In 10 seconds, it tells us what the problem is if it’s not normal.
  At TXM, we use magnetic concern strips to record and manage problems.;
• In 20 seconds, it tells us what action is to be taken, who is responsible for this and what support is needed. Problems without actions, or actions without checks, are a waste to have on the board!

A Visual Management Board will help communicate between users and viewers and make the Lean Daily Leadership Process more efficient and effective.

To learn more about the new TXM range of Practical 5S® and Lean Daily Leadership Process® visual boards and to purchase one for yourself, visit our E-store.