Production has come to a standstill, a machine is reporting a fault, the shift handover was incomplete – everyday occurrences in many businesses. If problems are only discussed at the weekly management meeting, it is usually already too late. To achieve true operational excellence, you need to start where value is created. This is precisely where shop floor management demonstrates its true strength. Find out why an on-site presence and visual communication are the keys to success.

Leadership right where the action is

Shop floor management means leaving the desk and shifting leadership to where the actual work takes place. Whether in the production hall or in an open-plan office (the concept of the shop floor can be applied to all areas), the aim is to make the current situation transparent.

Daily, brief stand-up meetings (huddles) are used to discuss current performance levels. But how do you ensure that these meetings do not descend into endless discussions? The answer lies in visualisation.

Complex data made simple

Columns of figures in Excel spreadsheets rarely inspire enthusiasm amongst staff. If you wish to use shop floor management as part of your OpEx (Operational Excellence) strategy, key performance indicators must be understandable at a glance.

Here at DIALOGBILD, we can help you design your shop floor boards so that they are intuitive to read. Instead of dry data, we use colour-coded indicators, clear symbols and illustrative process maps. This enables your teams to spot immediately where the bottlenecks are and where a Kaizen process (continuous improvement) needs to be initiated.

Dialogue on an equal footing

Would you like to know how shop floor management fits into the overall strategy? Discover all the details in our comprehensive OpEx guide!

Unlock your team’s potential!

Get in touch with us to take your shop floor management to the next level with bespoke visual solutions from DIALOGBILD.

A DIALOG PICTURE FOR AIRBUS AND THEIR NEW MODULAR CONCEPT

The Airbus plant in Hamburg-Finkenwerder is the largest Airbus site in Germany. Among other things, this is where the final assembly of the well-known A320 family takes place. As part of an internal restructuring, sequential line production is being converted to a mixed production organization, with the first half of production taking place in a synchronized area and the second half at a modular station. This means that various activities per aircraft that currently take place at several stations will be carried out at a single station.

The new modular concept is to be made visually understandable to production employees with the aid of a dialog picture, and the advantages and opportunities for all those involved are to be highlighted.

During a comprehensive tour of the factory, the DIALOGBLD team had everything shown to them in detail and took photos so that the individual machines and production steps could be depicted as authentically as possible in the final dialog picture.

The finished dialog picture will be displayed prominently in the production halls for everyone to see and will be used for internal workshops. ...

THE AUDI PRODUCTION SYSTEM

AUDI AG stands for sporty vehicles, high-quality workmanship and progressive design. The Audi Group is one of the most successful manufacturers of cars in the premium segment. At its production sites worldwide, Audi stands for "Advancement through technology". Highly qualified employees use innovative logistics processes, modern manufacturing technologies and efficient production systems to set uniform standards within the Audi production system. Each production site meets the highest standards of quality, efficiency and environmental compatibility.

Audi opened the 12th plant in the Audi production network in San José Chiapa, Mexico, on September 30, 2016. After only a short time, the fledgling Mexican Audi plant was already one of the country's most attractive employers. 5,200 people work together here, producing the Audi Q5 premium SUV on an area of 430 hectares. 156,650 locally produced Audi Q5s rolled off the production line here in 2019. At 2,400 meters above sea level, the most modern production facility in the Audi world is also the company's highest-altitude site. The plant has an annual production capacity of 150,000 Audi Q5 models.

PRODUCTION 3D INTERIOR VIEW