How to Use Visual Management  to Improve your Business

Running a business can be the most stressful thing you can ever do, but it can also be the most rewarding too financially and intellectually. A lot of business owners think that they have their business processes perfected, but once they have an efficiency expert come in only then they will know that they are throwing away money on things that is costing time and manpower.

Usually the first thing that that these productivity experts or consultants would recommend  is for the business to use a visual management board. Visual management boards are usual digital boards that shows the whole business process. Usually it is represented by boxes and shows the flow of production. Inside each box is again a separate visual board that shows the internal process within that department.

The way these boards helps businesses is that they provide a visual representation of the process, each department can see where the process is, that way they can anticipate what they need to do, whether they have to speed up the process because the product is near their station or slow down to give time for the product to arrive.

Knowing these things helps business optimize their process, by determining the best way to align their assembly and to troubleshoot possible bottlenecks.

The modern digital visual board is not a new invention; in fact the first management board was created by engineers in Toyota trying to figure out how to effectively manage their inventory. The process was so effective that it is now part of what they call Lean Management. In Japan these boards were called Kanban board and before they were just simple boards you can tack in pieces of paper to track the process.

Now thanks to modern technology boards are now digital and can be accessed through the internet. This way even if your company has plants all over the world they can synchronize their process by the using of these visual management boards.