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The impact of digital boards on production performance
The impact of digital boards on production performance
George Gketsios
Senior Manager – Solution Consulting
The pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is no stranger to using whiteboards for daily management, pulse meetings, improvement work, and lean tools. Digital boards can present production data and insights from machines, sensors, and systems in a user-friendly way. They help pharma manufacturers monitor and optimize production quality and efficiency.
Creating a visually instructive work environment is the foundation of any successful lean manufacturing initiative. In the manufacturing world, if one cannot keep up with the shop floor activities, it can lead to higher risks to safety, quality, and productivity. So, digital boards help shop floor management save time by facilitating visual communications and control.
What is visual management?
Visual management is important to any well-communicated working environment. It ensures your key information is communicated quickly and easily. The impact of production digital boards on the shop floor cannot be underestimated as it allows managers to identify quality issues early on and take corrective action before they become larger problems.
Digital boards in manufacturing plants that include logos/symbols alongside clear and readable text help maintain constant awareness at every turn and make sure production efficiency is increased by making informed decisions quickly. At the same time, it keeps everybody on the shop floor informed about and focused on important metrics, action plans, and directions in real-time.
How is production data displayed in the form of Digital Boards in a Manufacturing Site?
Factory display boards are an important tool for monitoring progress made in the manufacturing process and the status of the different production steps. This visual information provides a quick and simple overview that allows people throughout each work cell to see valuable information about what’s happening around them, whether it’s production or supply rates, inventory levels, or pending action plans.
Factory display boards are a digital communication tool in pharma manufacturing companies that provide important production data to those who need the information. Functionality often comes linked to sources such as factory-wide monitoring systems, which update data for all employees’ needs. Hence, everyone knows what tasks need attention next or where any problems may arise. Most importantly, they contribute to building a culture of operator inclusion, visibility, continuous improvement, and employee ownership of the process.
Production Display Boards
The production displays can be simple or complex, depending on what information range will efficiently give access to visual insights that will benefit the company. For example, a shop floor worker may only need a few metrics, but there’s really no limit to how much data from a production line can be included. However, they can become complicated with countless pieces of information provided by those working on-site about how production progresses throughout a business day.
Production dashboards usually use IoT technology and monitoring devices, data from autonomous machines, or other connected equipment. These are then made visible on this screen throughout the shop floor, so employees know precisely what to do at any given time! This way, there’s no guesswork involved, processes will follow the schedule more easily, and everyone will be more productive in less time!
Shop Floor Data Display Boards
Shop floor managers need to be able to use visual information about all of the manufacturing lines. Therefore, shop floor display boards should include critical information and all relevant data that allows the floor manager to know when something goes wrong with production lines. With up-to-date information about the status of each facility’s workload, it becomes easy through production monitoring to identify any problems when they arise and take corrective actions in order to maintain consistent output levels across all production lines.
The Head of Production needs this tool in order to provide clear visual cues about where products are being made. What tools/machines exist at different locations within their assigned space and how many employees work there daily will help with forecasting future demands if enough notice has been given beforehand. In addition, the tool helps the shop floor manager to decide quickly and correctly where they should focus their attention at any given moment during the shift.
To ensure production plans are executed as efficiently and accurately as possible, the floor manager must have a solution that provides visual information about where products will be made.
How are Digital Boards Helping Lean Manufacturing?
Lean manufacturing means having a clear understanding of all losses (waste) at any given process and if there are areas that could be improved. It achieves this through the structured use of several tools like visual management, value stream mapping, 5S, kaizen, SMED, Kanban, etc. These would not only increase productivity but also lead to improved communication and employee ownership.
Lean manufacturing is not just about the process of making products but also includes managing your workplace to produce efficiently. A key component for successful lean management involves creating a visual learning environment that informs and encourages workers and makes them more productive as they progress through each step during the following four stages of this learning:
- Planning
- Production
- Quality control on goods produced
- Improvement, if necessary, until finally achieving approval, where those improvements may then be implemented into new product development strategies
A visual workplace is absolutely necessary for a continuous improvement culture! The four stages above are facilitated with visual and dashboard displays, and the time needed to transmit the information is reduced. Creating a visual learning environment for workers is a key component of successful lean manufacturing.
What are the most effective Shop Floor Digital Boards in Pharma Manufacturing?
With so many different types of solutions out there, there is a range of key performance indicator (KPI) combinations that can be seen to display important information. There is no universal display board layout that works for all companies, which can show both constant and rotating KPIs for departments, to ensure they get the most from their people and solutions.
Custom solutions that meet the specific needs of a factory are the way to go!
KPIs, action plans, task status and ownership, productivity trends, with safety and quality risk levels are all potentially important for shop floor operations. They may be selected to be showcased depending on the daily routine being followed to achieve improvements. Information can be retrieved with the help of automation solutions to help increase the quality of the displayed information. The digital board below is an example of a shop floor management dashboard that allows managers to see immediately how their factory runs:
- Line Name – The name of the specific line represented by this tile.
- Color Convention – An indicator of the current status of the line using the red color code, which indicates that it is currently stopped. A green color code would indicate the production is running at a nominal speed, and a yellow color would indicate production is currently running with speed losses.
- Batch & Product Running – Indicates the batch name as well as the product name behind the running batch.
- Status Duration – A description of how long the production status has remained in the same stage.
- Stop Reason – A description of the reason for the current status.
- OEE Metric – The cumulative Overall Equipment Effectiveness for this batch.
- Line Output – This metric displays the number of parts actually produced during the course of the running batch.
- Estimated Completion time – Indicates the time it will take for the batch to be completed based on the performance pattern so far.
How can Digital Boards Increase Manufacturing Efficiency?
Visual displays help overall efficiency in two concrete ways:
- By supporting manufacturers in staying organized. The amount of money and wasted labor hours that result from a lack of organization is surprising. Quality-related costs within a manufacturing facility make up 15-20% of total operating costs. Re-arranging the manufacturing floor and visually providing information that would be hard to find in paper format can help create a smoother process by giving instant access to information, more visibility, and increased utilization, while keeping people focused and empowered.
- By encouraging collaboration. The shop floor is most productive when everyone works together and feels included working toward the same goal with as little waste as possible. While focusing on work is important, it’s also crucial to ensure that each staff member feels comfortable, shares feedback, and feels they are a pivotal part of a team. The clearer the message of the goal and everybody’s role in the plan is, the better a team works together, and visible boards play an important role in cultivating this.
For manufacturers, not only does improved efficiency result in reduced operational costs and higher flexibility levels, but it also leads to improved quality which is crucial for the pharmaceutical industry, boosting customer loyalty and leading to increases in market share.
Let's take the next step
Manufacturers have traditionally been using paper reports and spreadsheets, supplementing this information with what the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can provide. Instead of getting their metrics-related production information from the previous shift or day, they can now get it in real-time with the help of advanced technology. Consequently, insights that would typically take them days to process can be available within minutes and directly displayed on different boards throughout the company!
If you’re interested in learning how Vimachem can help automate real-time data collection and help you configure your visual workplace with personalized digital boards for faster, easier manufacturing analytics, reach out to a member of our team today.
READY TO AUGMENT YOUR SHOP FLOOR OPERATIONS?
READY TO AUGMENT YOUR SHOP FLOOR OPERATIONS?
Vimachem Manufacturing Analytics - OEE
The Manufacturing Analytics – OEE module is an intelligent Pharma OEE Cloud solution that allows you to collect, store and visualize data across your site / enterprise and apply AI algorithms to optimize production efficiency and product quality.