More often than not, an effective implementation of operator-led visuality produces a 15- to 30-percent increase in productivity on the cell or departmental level, beginning with the implementation of the “visual where” (or, as our trainers like to call it, 5S on steroids). But that effectiveness and those impressive results require that management not take shortcuts.

One of the most fundamental errors managers make when “turning over” the visual reins to value-add associates is to commandeer for themselves the simple task of implementing the visual where (i.e., borders, addresses, ID labels). Such managers mean no harm; they reason that because the task is so simple and obvious, they can do it themselves, get it over with, and save operators for more interesting improvement tasks. The result? The first step of what should be a rich and productive journey with terrific bottom-line benefits quickly goes off the rails.

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