A good workplace speaks. Visual Controls show everyone at a glance whether the process is normal, so problems surface in seconds, not at month-end. Watch the short video, then work with the toolkit PDF: it explains the method, shows a worked example and gives you a blank template to fill in.
Tool video
The short tool video will appear here.
Visual Controls in short
- Walk the GembaJapanese for "the actual place"; going to directly observe a process rather than relying on documents or memory. Click term for full definition. Ask: what does someone need to see here to know if all is normal?
- Define normal. Where things belong, how much, how fast, in what order.
- Make abnormal loud. Outlines, red lines, empty slots, lights. A deviation must jump out.
- Place at the point of use. At the station, not in a binder or on a distant screen.
- Test with a stranger. Can a visitor tell normal from abnormal in five seconds?
Key points
- Normal vs. abnormal in 5 seconds.
- Make deviations impossible to miss.
- At the point of use.
- Updated by the people who work there.