Efficient Plant October 2022 - 23

department | tech horizons
factory, visual workplace, and visual management.
My experience and use of visual
controls has been in lean implementations
such as colors and labels in 5S, color-coding
safe walkways, repair areas/material storage,
one-point-lessons, and shadow boards for
maintenance tools. TPM examples include
detecting abnormalities with oil-level markings,
visuals to show motor-shaſt rotation,
gauges in/out of specifi cation, and lubrication
points. You want to be able to identify and
prevent abnormalities before small problems
turn into big problems.
Th ere are many examples in production
visual controls. Some are visual height limits
for stacked materials, defect location boards,
team boards (for deployment of business
plans and performance metrics), and on
boards and lights (for displaying status and/
or notifying team leaders, with a cord or
push button that activates a light, sound, or
both). As a total plant, visual controls help
support standardization, team alignment
(by consistency in message) and can improve
accountability (through easy-to-understand
messaging).
As depicted below by Visual Controls
Defi nition (isixsigma.com), there is a hierarchy
of diff erent displays (1 and 2) and controls
(3 to 6). Th is hierarchy can range from simple
posters to standard work instructions to a full
poka-yoke (mistake-proofi ng) system.
Th e hierarchy of displays and controls:
1. Information is shared (menu in the
cafeteria).
2. Standard procedures are shared at a local
level (HR bulletins).
3. Standard work instructions are posted in
the workspace (in easily visible places).
4. Problems are identifi ed using devices
such as alarms and Andon lights.
5. Problems are stopped from moving
forward (machine lockouts).
6. Problems are prevented.
Visual controls should be used to support
your reliability and maintainability bestpractices
implementation, in addition to
your other reliability and maintainability
technologies. EP
Based in Knoxville, Dr. Klaus M.
Blache is director of the Reliability &
Maintainability Center at the Univ. of
Tennessee, and a research professor in
the College of Engineering. Contact him
at kblache@utk.edu.
Gauge labels
Adding a simple
gauge label enables
any employee
to easily detect
abnormalities at
a glance and at a
distance. Without the
label, only a trained
inspector would know
if the temperature or
pressure setting is
correct.
OCTOBER 2022
Replacement-part visuals
Roughly 25% of equipment
downtime can be
attributed to parts-related
issues (identifying the
correct part, looking for
parts, ordering parts).
Much of this wasted
time can be eliminated
by placing labels on the
equipment that clearly
identify the correct
replacement parts.
Pipe marking
While ANSI standards only
require that the content
and direction of flow be
shown on pipe markers,
it can be useful to also
indicate the source and
destination points. This
simplifi es and expedites
the process of tracing pipes
through the facility when
you need to shut down a
specifi c section or process.
A4 boards
A4 boards are documents
that can assist with
problem resolution. They
document root-cause
analysis and outline
countermeasures that
were put in place to
correct problem. It can be
benefi cial to display this
type of information to
promote visibility and input
from a larger group.
EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM | 23
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Efficient Plant October 2022

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