LIVE WEBINAR
Friday, May 8
12:00 - 1:30pm Pacific
The Five Reasons for Workplace Visuality
with Dr. Gwendolyn Galsworth
$75 per person or group
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Put it on wheels!
With heavy bins or pallets, moving WIP between departments and from station to station can often depend on the availability of a forklift driver. That means waiting.
Put wheels on the bins or pallets, and operators can move them within an area themselves. No forklift driver--or waiting--needed! 
The same idea can be applied to heavy equipment that gets used by many different people within a plant. Instead of each operator interrupting their work flow to trek to where that equipment resides, can you put the equipment on wheels, so the equipment can travel from work area to work area?
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It can be uncomfortable to sit too close to a television but your eyes will not be damaged by doing so. The sustained effort of continuous close-focusing can emphasize any vision defect and result in eye strain and headaches, so you should watch television at a distance that feels comfortable. It's generally only children who watch TV at six inches... they have plenty of accommodation (the facility to focus from distance to near and back again) and it doesn't do them any lasting harm.
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From the Editor:
Tax Day is
Scheduled
for a Reason
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Today is tax day for most of us.
Annual filing may be a responsibility we dread, yet we do that chore every year on a regular schedule.
We know that completing that process helps do good things for the larger community. We support transportation improvements that help everyone reach their destination. We help people facing obstacles get assistance in surmounting those obstacles. We help ensure the safety of the country, the community, and the individual.
Your visual workplace requires the same regular attention as your tax filing. If that seems like a stretch, consider this: Visuality helps in the same ways mentioned above--WIP gets moved from place to place more smoothly, obstacles get eliminated, safety gets improved.
But like the social benefits provided by your taxes, those workplace benefits only get put in place and STAY in place with regularly-scheduled, hands-on attention. Have you established a schedule for examining whether your visual devices are working?
Is it time for an annual (or quarterly, or monthly) review of your work area? What contribution can you make today toward improving work flow, removing obstacles, and providing a safe place to work?
Cindy Lyndin
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I LOVE this image.
Great signs, clever visual devices, artistic or humorous graffiti. This new column is the catch-all for visuals you love. If you find one to share, send the image to
[email protected]
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Visual Radio:
MWV's Kendall Henry: When Executives Become Leaders of Improvement
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Listen to Gwendolyn this Thursday at 10am
This Week's Episode
MWV's Kendall Henry: When Executives Become Leaders of Improvement
For his first 16 years with global packaging giant, MeadWestvaco ($5 billion sales/125 sites/ 16,000 employees/30 countries), Kendall Henry made success happen in many MWV facilities. If a challenge occurred, he turned to technical subject matter experts for solutions. And it worked-until it didn't. Tune in this week when your host and visual expert, Gwendolyn Galsworth, interviews MWV's Kendall Henry. Hear what happened to change this executive's definition of what success means and how to get it. Listen as Mr. Henry describes how he used his new role as plant manager at MWV/Slatersville (Rhode Island) to develop a spirited and engaged workforce of self-leaders and add to the improvement contribution that used to be the sole domain of technical experts. Learn how he is harnessing the power of visuality and lean to involve everyone in improving their own work daily-and become engrossed in and accountable for stabilizing and growing the Slatersville site. Tune in/learn more.
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Kendall Henry
Plant Manager,
MWV/Slatersville
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The Enemy: Chronic Information Deficits
by Gwendolyn Galsworth
It's no secret. Workplace information can change quickly and often-production schedules, customer requirements, engineering specifications, operational methods, tooling and fixtures, material procurement, work-in-process, and the thousand other details on which the daily life of the enterprise depends. In any single day, literally thousands of informational transactions are required to keep work current, accurate, and timely.
But what happens when that vital information is hard to access, incomplete, inaccurate, late-or simply not there? People ask lots of questions and lots of the same questions, repeatedly. An information-scarce workplace is the opposite of a visual workplace. When key information is not instantly available, the company pays for that in long lead times, late deliveries, poor quality, mistakes, accidents, low operator and managerial morale, and runaway costs.
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| Visual information sharing at this gate area ensures that different planes can connect with the jet way precisely. |
Read More
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| What level of performance is available at the same gate with all the visual devices removed? Can you hear the many questions this lack of visuality triggers? |
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This Month's
Featured
Product
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Only $5 through April 30!
Podcast Bundle #1: Introduction to the Visual Workplace
(7 Podcasts!)
Our Podcast bundles are concise, specially-edited versions of Gwendolyn Galsworth's weekly podcasts, grouped in bundles, by topic. This month's bundle includes these podcast titles:
1.1.
Let the Workplace Speak!
1.2.
The First Visual Building Block: I-Driven Devices
1.3.
Visual Thinkers Wanted (The 7 Remaining Building Blocks)
1.4.
Ten Doorways
1.5.
Cultural Transformation: How Visuality Does It
1.6.
We Are Visual Beings
1.7.
Five Things You Should Know About Visuality
These podcasts provide an opportunity for a brilliant introduction to visual thinking for only $5!
Regular Price: $25 USD
On sale through April 30: $5 USD
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| And the Visual Fail Prize Goes To... |
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From reader Greg Zimmerer:
Sign on the bottom part says,
"Do Not Stack On Top of This Skid"
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Have you seen a Visual Fail that made you laugh?
Send the image to
[email protected],
and we'll put it here and credit you with the funny find!
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A financial image, in honor of Tax Day.
This may take you a moment...
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