This White Paper will provide an essential understanding of different initiatives towards having a Visual Production Management system, (VPMS), in a manufacturing environment. Also insights about why? and how? to implement a VPMS, highlighting the benefits of taking these actions, and further across your environment creating a learning organization. Download from www.hmswebsite.com/vpms-white-paper/

1. Meeting the Challenges to adopt Visual Production Management
Systems without creating data overload.
Key Words: Manufacturing, VisualFactoryManagement, Production, Dashboard, Collaboration, 5S
White Paper
This White Paper will provide an essential understanding of different initiatives towards
having a Visual ProductionManagement system, (VPMS), in a manufacturing environment.
Also insights about why? and how? to implement a VPMS, highlighting the benefits of
taking these actions, and further across your environment creatinga learning organization.
By Stephen Hardy
Holistic Manufacturing Solutions
April 2015

2. www.holisticmanufacturing.com
Page 2 Meeting the Challenges to adopt Visual Production Management Systems without creating dataoverload.
Introduction
Visual Factory Management (VFM) madeits debut as part of the Toyota Production System.
“One clearpoint from the literatureis the lack of common terminology in this field” according to
Algan Tezel, LauriKoskela, and Patricia Tzortzopoulos of Salford University in their paper on
Functions of Visual Management. Theycan be very broad or narroweddown to 5S or even just
housekeeping and presence of KPI chartsin production areas. What almost all experts in this area
agree is that key characteristicsinclude:
 Providing criticalinformation at the point of need.
 Information is provided in a highly visual format that trigger interventions
 It should have communication and collaboration capabilities
 Presenting Key Performance Indicators(KPIs) to support decision-making. Collections of KPIs
together areoften called a scorecard.
Even today with the preponderance of IT: laptop, tablets, smartphone, Wi-Fi, internet, extranet,
3G etc. a search on the internet shows most VFM tools in theform of signage, boards withgraphs,
paper check-lists, process instructions, overhead displays or light marquees. Using these basic
tools, many users or service providers are claiming significant increases in throughput, decrease in
rejects, improved quality and increases in asset utilization.
The Economist Magazine in its “Third Industrial Revolution”1 special report introduced theconcept
in which internet based manufacturing networks areuniting different systems to support decision-
making.
Examples could include:
 Machines with sensors to signal central services when maintenanceactivities arenecessary.
 Logistic having real-timeaccess different production lines around the world to optimize
 Global planning having accessto real time performance of lines and sending schedules direct
to operators,
 Manufacturing asset managersmonitoring overall equipment effectiveness to identify
opportunities for improvement or need to purchase new assets to meet future demand.
Eliyahu M. Goldratt, author of “The Goal”2, focused heavily on performance measurement as a
way to drive performance and had threekey phrases:
1. Tell me how you will measureme and I will tell you how I’ll behave.
2. People canonly focus on 3 measures at once.
3. All systems (including manufacturing) depend on 3 key variables according to the laws of
physics. Once you go beyond the third order variables, the impact is minimum.
So why areso many VFM practitioners not taking up IT tools to provide the functions and benefits
of VFM? Visual Production Management Systems (VPMS) aresuch IT solutions that provide a real
time and highly visual collaborative environment across a manufacturing community focusing on
1
http://www.economist.com/printedition/covers/2012-04-21/ap-e-eu-la-me-na-uk
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goal_%28novel%29

3. www.holisticmanufacturing.com
Page 3 Meeting the Challenges to adopt Visual Production Management Systems without creating dataoverload.
continuous production performance improvement and ultimate production excellence. VPMSs
bring not just support for real-timenumerical and administrative aspects of VFM, but they are
called to become the factorybackbone for collaboration, innovation and continuous learning.
Functional elements of a robust VPMS include charting of results, standard and custom production
dashboards, visual triggersregarding production rates, production plans, output vs planned
output, reject rates, cost of losses, individual line or summation of several lines for efficiency,
productivity or OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), triggersfor maintenance, adjustment or
cleaning interventions, provision of up to date information required at point of use such as
product specifications, production instructions, quality specifications, cleaning or maintenance
task lists. Realtime collaboration enablers such as integratedmessaging and on-line chatting with
audio and video capabilities are a must have for a modern VPMS.
With the above in mind, this white paper discusses the challengesto providing “critical
information”, in a highly visual way, across a global manufacturing network towhere it is needed
without creating data overload.
The Challenges
Making a factory a Visual Factory or Visual Workplace seems simple in theory but “the devil is in
the details”.
Having visited factories in over 26 different countries and conducted hundreds of performance
improvement consulting projects some of the challenges I observed are:
 Information boards with out of dateinformation.
 Information not in realtime.
 Even though supervisors have access to report tools or even basic excel charts, theyrarely
use themto conduct deeper analysis.
 Production displays usually display cumulative product for the shift. See below how this
may lead to technicalresources being allocated inappropriately.
Example of Misleading Information -At the start of a shift a machine may be running poorly so
the operators stop the line to work on the problem. After say one or twohours the machine is
running very well. On a cumulative production display, this machine will show well behind its
production plan and if numbers switch from greento red when results arelower than the plan,
then the numbers will be red. However, another machine may have run well at the start of the
shift but over first 2 hours showed a steady downward trend in output due to some problem that
is deteriorating. Cumulatively it looks OK still. Although thebasic cumulative production display
would encourage effort to be focused on thefirst machine, the one where effort should be
focused is this second line. It is this second line that needs attention not the first. So operators
need a measure of rateand not just cumulative for the shift.
Sensors on modules can be very good, although they may lead to a lot of data that is not very
useful or even provide misleading data.

4. www.holisticmanufacturing.com
Page 4 Meeting the Challenges to adopt Visual Production Management Systems without creating dataoverload.
Some examples:
 Temperatureor vibration sensor on bearingsto warn of potential failure are a very good
and useful type of sensor, giving a simple trigger whenthereis an unexpected changein
the parameter being measured.
 Many systems captureALL stops, even micro stops that are within the statisticalprocess
capability of the equipment or the materialsconcerned. This could mask problems that
areclearly relatedto items outside the statisticalprocess capability and thereforecan and
must be solved. Improving process capability is also necessary but the priority is
addressing deviations from that which is statisticallyexpected.
 Sensors on safety guards often lead to inaccurateor misleading information. Some PLC
areprogrammed to be show “guardopen” as “machine not required” if opened after even
very short run, or if opened for more than “x” minutes. This could be misleading if an
operatorhas a line stop, he clears the stop, but it stops again, so he clears again. He
closes the guardbut decided to callmaintenance, and opens the guard. The reallost time
for this stop will include all thetime until the mechanic comes and fixed the line, but some
PLC will not show this as down time, hence can be misleading.
I visited a factory many years ago; they werecapturing all stops from a PLC and downloading to a
centralmainframe. When I asked, “what was the biggest problem with the downtime data they
wereprovided weekly?” The answer was“Having enough cabinet space to store it”. Today wedo
not hear this because digital storagespace is not a problem, but the point is whether managers
and supervisors arebeing fed with data that they never look at.
If so thequestions to be asked are:
1. Is the cost of collecting this data offset by the value of improvements it drives?
2. Is the data being presented in an easy to digest format that managersarecomfortable
using and use frequently?
3. Is this data and theinformation that can be obtained more appropriate at another level or
in another function within the organization?
Another challengeis encountered where data is collected by people other than the operators (or
automaticcollection of production data by counters), and where data is enteredinto spreadsheets
and manipulated before sending periodic reports toa global HQ. Having worked with many
multinational companies, I have seen how each company manipulates the data in a different way.
Some examples are:
 Planned maintenance is discounted for purposes of operational effectiveness calculations.
 Different factories use different “theoretical” production rates for the same machine
running the same SKU so for thesame output show different efficiencies.
 Some companies discount cleaning timewhen calculateproduction rates.
This lackof standards is in a largepart due to theneed for management intervention and
manipulation of information to be submitted. A good visual production management system

5. www.holisticmanufacturing.com
Page 5 Meeting the Challenges to adopt Visual Production Management Systems without creating dataoverload.
(VPMS) would be able to take data directly so that factorieswould not need tomanipulate and all
would be working with the same standards and rules.
Communication and collaboration are criticalto innovation; a good VPMS should provide such
capabilities. Multinationaland Internationalcompanies have the added challenges of handling
different languages, different cultures and different education levels. This leads to the challenge
for these companies with global manufacturing networks to have operators in third world
countries enter data that can be compared on a “like for like” basis with data from another plant
and be seamlessly be reviewedin a centralfunctional area in theirown language.
Part of good communications is having standards, but these standards need to be dynamic in this
fast moving world. So procedures must be in place to update standards so everyone works to the
very latest standard. One example of this could be thecleaning checklist for a machine or the
maintenancetask list for a machine. Even the bill of materials and/or instructions for assembly of
an item need communicated in a timely fashion and can be subject to changeas new materialsare
used, or new specifications adopted.
Key Performance Indicators
Data is useless until it is arranged into information, and is easierto use when it is highly
graphical and visual, with clear triggers for actions or interventions.
The amount of data to be shown, the useful life of data, and format in which it needs to be
presented varies depending on the audience. Different levels and different functions within an
organizationshould have their own KPIs, of course all aligned. It is also important to make the
point that KPIs should be met in support of overall company goalsand/or objectives.
A few simple examples are:
 An operator need to see within a very short space of time if his machine is performing
below the statisticalcapability.
 Materialplanner and warehouse staff need to see how machines arerunning vs plan to
know when to deliver additional raw materialsto a line.
 Maintenance staff need to see trends of machines that giveinsights where interventions
will be required in the future.
 Planners and schedulers need to know machine capabilities for each SKU during the last
period theSKUs was run in order to set a realistic plan.
 Managersneed to see on a day-to-day basis how they lines aredoing vs plan in order to
allocate resources tocatch up and identify where improvement plans arenecessary.
It seems obvious but I have seen many examples of one group of employees KPIs being met at the
cost of thecompany and not in support of its goals. This become more prevalent when annual
performance reviews or remuneration is linked to KPIs.
For example:
 Engineers hitting a lower labor cost for a product but overall cost increases.

6. www.holisticmanufacturing.com
Page 6 Meeting the Challenges to adopt Visual Production Management Systems without creating dataoverload.
 Cheaper materialsbeing purchased to meet purchasing targetsbut thenew materials
createmore rejects.
 On-time deliveries being achieved by making many unplanned changes to the schedule,
shorter runs, more lost timeon brand changes and more wasteon setup.
 Meeting customer last minute orders by last minute plan changes and then using high cost
transportation.
 Slowing down a machine to have less variability and perhaps higher quality, but lower
productivity. Or vice versa, speeding a machine up to get more throughput while ignoring
higher reject rate.
Eachof these can be admirable if one of and for exceptionalcircumstances, but I have seen
examples where people are praised and rewardedfor such action, and then these quick fixes
become routine and so undermine the overall performanceof the company, eventually leading to
lower performance over time. In eachcase, theKPI is valid but valid if other measures are “fixed”.
So speed up the machine to get higher output but ensure threshold rejects arenot exceeded and
then work on reducing rejectsat this higher throughout.
Collections of KPIs arepart of a scoreboard. Visual Work Place Inc. provide the Top 10 Driving
Questions for Creating Score Boards:
1. Are production schedules visual? Do they communicatevariance, priority, and arethey
located at the point of use?
2. Is the current status (real time) of the production performancevs. theproduction plan
visible and clearly understood by the operators?
3. Are company communications posted in an orderly manner and kept up to dateby the
identified owner?
4. Are manpower levels monitored to coincide with production needs, and are they visible
for quick reference?
5. Are training matricesvisual and located in the work area?
6. Are Continuous Improvement plans, progress and cost reductions visually displayed?
7. Has theowner been identified to keep this information current?
8. Are productivity, safety and quality measures clearly defined for each area? Is the data
visible with an owner nominated to maintain it?
9. Is unscheduled machine downtime trackedand reviewed?
10. Are thecosts of machine downtime calculatedand displayed visually?
YourManufacturingEnvironment
In order to understand if VFM is for you and your company there are a few simple questions to
ask yourself:
1. Are you often fighting fires on the production lines instead of taking your timeto focus,
analyzeand implement continuous improvement plans to “createfuturereliable
capacity”?

7. www.holisticmanufacturing.com
Page 7 Meeting the Challenges to adopt Visual Production Management Systems without creating dataoverload.
2. Do you wish that you had more opportunity to easily and rapidly identify and execute
actions that improve shop floor performance?
3. Are you acting in a rapidly changing business environment?
4. Are you dealing with skills teamsin diverse locations and with different languages?
5. Do need to revise your standard operation procedures or manufacturing specifications
often?
6. Is performance improvement built in to your company’s priorities?
7. Are you dealing with skills teamsin diverse locations and with different languages? Isyour
company registering, disseminating and learning from these improvements?
8. Are you struggling to extract fromyour manufacturing execution system meaningful data
for practicaland fast analysis when you need it?
If you have answeredyes to any of theabove questions you WILL benefit from having visual
factory management. But what type; signage, hard copy procedures, checklist etc., ora network
computer based system? We have addressed the challenges of each, but there are computer-
based solutions that give the best of both worlds. The genericname given to such systems is
Visual Production Management Systems (VPMS).
Holistic Manufacturing Solutions
If answers to some of above questions is yes, and if implementing a Visual Production
Management Systemcould help you realize improvements in OEE, or in Waste reduction, in
matters of weeks, thenthe return on the investment of addressing any one of these challenges
by implementing a Visual Production Management Systemshould be in the Manufacturing
executives agenda today.
Consider too theadditional benefit gainedif these improvements are sustainable and could drive
your company to createa learning organizationwithin manufacturing.
There arenumerous solutions and approaches to access data and captureknowledge and
intelligence in manufacturing operations: Business Intelligence, Business Analytics, Predictive
Analytics, and Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence.
Robust Visual Production Management Systems, such as HMSTalisman, offer a new approach.
Offers different perspectives to expand visualization in your factoryenvironments using highly
visual fast technologies. They are not disruptive with any existing manufacturing solution in place,
so they lie on top of all of the other applications. Are suited to small single factory environments
or to global multi factory environment with many different languages. VPMSs aresimple from the
IT support perspective, easy to learn, easy to implement, and designed to communicate with any
data input or signals.
As a first step, you should start understanding and defining what information is most important for
you to collect, what you want to measure and what is your improvement opportunity with your

8. www.holisticmanufacturing.com
Page 8 Meeting the Challenges to adopt Visual Production Management Systems without creating dataoverload.
current assets. I suggest that managersor directors evaluate their business processes with a
holistic perspective and understanding how actions takensomewhere in the manufacturing
environment might affect the operations at the shop floor. Look for reinforcing loops that maybe
positive or negative. Identify the barriersto improvement. Also take a serious look at the human
systems, delivering theright information to the right person at the right time, what drives good or
poor performance and thus establish learning loops. Ensure information is highly visible, easy to
understand and standardizedacross the company because this will become the main driver of
continuous improvement across your factories.
HMSTalisman currentlyis in 9 languagesresolving the problem of communications across national
boundaries. It covers the Top 10 Driving Questions for Creating Score Boards. It gives operators
realtime information on production ratesand production vs plan, or reject rates, but has simple
dashboards and charts for managersand technical resources to identify trends and patternsso
that they can see how to gain maximum leverage from their technicalresources. Operators have
access to; the latest production plan (no matter wherein the world it was created or how recently
changed), the latest specification, instructions or check list reminding them of actions they need to
takeat regularintervals or on other triggers. They caneven use a Skype like chat facility to
demonstrateor request information from a centralresource such as a quality department,
engineering or maintenance; Informationcan be viewed on any tablet, smart phone or PC on an
intranet, over internet, or in the cloud enabling timely and pervasive collaboration. Results can be
compared betweenlines or even elements of lines in different plants, or even different
companies, to support innovation. It allows new procedures, work instructions, specifications,
processes or check lists to be available on all similar lines across the your communities or factories
at the same time (regardlessof different languages, cultures, time zones etc.), helping you to be
fast and agileas a company. It uses a system to filter the many stops due to process capability so
focus will be on exceptions so that you move from being reactiveto creative, tomove your
emphasis from firefighting to “creating futurereliable capacity”. However, once manufacturing
excellence is in placeand therearevery fewvariations or exceptions, then thefilter is adjusted in
order to improve process capability even beyond your current expectations.
Implementing a VPMS does not mean you need to engagein a long-termconsulting/reengineering
project. Typically, a HMSTalismanimplementation last only several weeks and pay back canbe
measured in months, but often provides positive cash flow from day one.
About HMS:
HolisticManufacturingSolutions(HMS) isa Visual Production
ManagementSolution(VPMS)Company.
Wearea teamwith extensiveexperienceinmanufacturingprocesses,innovativeinformation
systems and managementconsulting.Creatingvalue,unleashinginnovationpotential and
enablingproduction excellenceisourpassion.Webelievethata holisticapproach,with the
rightbalanceof technology, encapsulated knowledgeand humancollaboration,iskey to
achievingexcellenceinanymanufacturingenterprise.Bringingsuccessto ourcustomersand
surpassingtheirexpectationsisourown measureof success.

9. www.holisticmanufacturing.com
Page 9 Meeting the Challenges to adopt Visual Production Management Systems without creating dataoverload.
Our Missionisto develop,implementandsupportsoftwaresolutionsthatprovide
manufacturingcompanies,of all sizes,withproductionperformanceimprovementsat
operational,technical and managerial levelsby deliveringeasily accessible,actionoriented,and
highlyvisual real-timeinformation acrossthecompany,atanunbeatablereturn on investment
(ROI).
HMS inherited,and captured initssoftwaresolutions,morethan 20 yearsof know-howand
experienceinthefield.Wecombinea uniquesetof knowledgeand competencesinDigital
Manufacturing,ProductLifeCycleManagement,and Virtualization technologieswith an
innovativeHolisticApproachandsuccessful ValueConsultingexperiences,focusingall of that
towards highvalue,easy-to-use,easy-to-adopt,softwaresolutionsthatpromotecontinuous
performanceimprovementand Production Excellencein themanufacturingindustry.
Specialties
www.holisticmanufacturing.com
Visual ProductionManagementSystems,ManufacturingSoftwareSolutions, Production
PerformanceConsulting,Holistic ManufacturingConsulting.