Today, when it comes to implementing the principles of lean manufacturing in your organization, one key factor you certainly want to consider is “signage.” As you already know, lean encourages efficiency through the elimination or reduction of waste, which can come in different forms.
Today, for any organization to eliminate waste in the manufacturing industry, visual keys and cues are needed. This is where the need for signage systems comes into the scene. In the rest of this post, you’ll discover the importance of signage for implementing lean manufacturing. In addition, you’ll also understand how to choose effective signage for your lean program.
Why is signage important for implementing lean?
As earlier mentioned, the principles of lean manufacturing focus on how to use different approaches to eliminate waste and make operations a lot more efficient. Speaking of waste; it can come in different forms, such as wasted time and wasted movement.
With a reliable sign system, such as a wayfinding guide, organizations can easily tackle the issue of unnecessary wasted time. In addition, a reliable signage system also helps to keep processes safer and simpler.
In the manufacturing industry today, the process of using signage systems for various activities is known as Workplace Visuality. Workplace visuality will provide your workers and visitors with a self-regulating and improving work environment.
Types of signage systems for Implementing the Principles of lean manufacturing
Today, signage systems can be used in several ways. For instance, with a suitable sign system, your organization can easily provide an answer to this question; what exactly do people need to know?
Apart from “what,” organizations can also take advantage of signage to answer various questions, such as who, how, where, when, and why. By answering these questions, employees & customers will better understand what they need to do to avoid waste.
Below are a couple of factors to consider when choosing suitable signage for lean:
- First, check and identify waste in your organization.
- What factors are causing waste?
- How can you avoid waste?
With these factors, you’ll be able to choose a suitable sign system to implement lean in your workplace. That said, below are three main sign systems that you may consider in your organization:
- Wayfinding guides are known to be pretty effective for providing your workers with Quick & Clear communications. For instance, wayfinding may be effective for helping your employers visually identify various process directions in your company. This way, the workers can easily get answers to various questions, such as where to go and how to handle any material.
- In any manufacturing organization with complex pipe infrastructure, pipe marking guides are very important. Industrial pipe marking prevents employees from unnecessarily wasting time locating a suitable pipe. In addition, it also helps to improve workers’ safety and operation efficiency.
- Industrial safety guides are also effective for lean manufacturing. With this signage, employees can easily and quickly understand whether or not PPE is required in certain areas. Overall, using this signage for lead is important for the health and safety of your workers.