Inexpensive (But Powerful) Visual Controls
by Ron Pereira on July 5th, 2009.
I love simple visual controls. And I love them even more when they don’t cost a lot of money!
Thus the smile that came across my face when watching the “Lean Leadership” interview we recently did with a cell leader from a Washington based manufacturing company.
This interview is part of a new series we’re offering to subscribers of the Gemba Academy School of Lean.
Anyhow, in this interview we learned how this company approaches things like 5S, the 7 Wastes, and visual management.
3 Cup Visual Control System
Specifically, regarding visual management, we learned how this company uses a simple “3 cup visual control system” to monitor the status of their flow lines.
- The green cup means the cell is functioning as planned
- The yellow cup signifies some potential issues are approaching
- The red cup means the cell is down and immediate support is needed
Simple. Inexpensive. Brilliant.
What do you think?
What do you think of this visual control system? Could this work in your company? How would you improve it?
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- Do We Even Need the 4th and 5th S?
- 7 Ways to Reduce Cost
Very nice visual control. I especially like the PVC like tubing they used to hold the cups up. I’ll be sharing this idea with my colleagues today.
That is great – simple no cost solutions. We use colored golf balls and pin pong balls in one factory as a kanban single. Due to the effect of gravity and the fact the balls roll -using PVC pipe can creat some effective visual controls especially FIFO. This has inspired my to put this on my site.