The action: Whenever possible, use visual aids to improve the work.
The long-form: At Toyota’s plant, the operator in charge with securing the wheel-bolts on the car dips his wrench in pink powder between every bolt. Why?
It answers two fundamental questions in the workplace:
- What do I need to know to do a good job?
- What do others need to know to do a good job?
The pink powder would stick to the bolts he had secured, making it easy to see which bolts still needed tightening. And it would also serve as a quality control for the next step in the process. If all five bolts were pink, they would know they could do their part of the work without having to send the car back to the previous step.
Can you do something visual to your work environment that helps everyone create a quality product, reduce errors, or communicate better? It could be a poster on a wall, better use of labels, or other physical items.
We are often good at making control systems on computers. Forms to fill in, spreadsheets that show progress. But the best way to reduce complexity is by making the most important visual helps analogue:
You should be able to look to, not click to visual helps.
Magnus Lord
Source of Toyota story: Dr. Gwendolyn Galsworth on the podcast Gemba Academy
Examples:
Read more:
First Forty 