On the Cutting Edge of Lean: The Visual Workplace/Visual Thinking
Visual thinking is essential to workplace safety and efficiency, and any lean manufacturing program.
The Visual Workplace, a new book by Gwendolyn Galsworth, goes beyond 5-S, 6-S, Kan ban and poka yoke to show how transparency on the plant floor can reduce errors and make any workplace safer and more productive. These principles, well accepted in discrete manufacturing, are now starting to take root in the pharmaceutical industry.
This excerpt from "Visual Workplace–Visual Thinking: Creating Enterprise Excellence Through the Technologies of the Visual Workplace," includes much of the book's second chapter. It presents the eight building blocks of visual thinking and is "as close to a methods primer as you will find in this volume," according to the author.
The complete book (publisher: Visual-Lean Enterprise Press, 2005, 222 pages, soft cover) is available from Quality Methods International or Ocapt Business Books.
For more information on Gwendolyn Galworth and Quality Methods International, visit www.visualworkplace.com.