Creating The Visual Workplace

5S is often referred to as the Five Pillars of a Visual Workplace. So what is a visual workplace?

A visual workplace (also known as Visual Factory Management) is a system for reducing waste, improving productivity, safety, quality, on-time delivery, profits and employee moral by implementing "visual controls."

At work our vision is typically the main way we take in information. Without thinking we see color, shape, location, distance, contrast and brightness. The purpose of a visual workplace is to use this incoming information to eliminate wasted motion. Why is eliminating waste important? Author Hiroyuki Hirano explains that wasteful concepts of how to accomplish something harm a business:

"Many of these concepts and customs are ingrained into every part of the production, clerical, and sales divisions. With such deep roots, they are not easily uprooted and replaced. To use another biological metaphor, these deeply ingrained concepts and customs are like fat that has been finely marbled into every part of the body. Every ounce of this fat is pure waste, and overweight companies are the least likely to win the marathon race for survival into the next century." Quoted from the Five Pillars of the Visual Workplace by Hiroyuki Hirano (page 1).

A visual workplace eliminates waste by eliminating searching, waiting, questions, interruptions, mistakes and injuries. A visual workplace makes work areas user friendly by answering questions; identifying equipment, materials and locations; describing actions and procedures; and providing safety warnings and precaution information. It does this by recognizing the primary importance of vision. It then makes important information available at the point of need and to make it stand out visually.

Establishing a visual workplace involves proper labeling and signage. It involves establishing visual cues, such as color coding, that identify work areas, tools, storage areas and even people. The objective is to create a workplace in which employees have the information they need, understand their role, and contribute in a positive way to the success of your company.

Workers should be able to locate the things they need with a minimum of effort. Storage areas, cabinets, shelves, bins and closets should be clearly identified. Signs should be clear and visible from a greater than the normal distance from which they are typically viewed. Standardized color coding of signs and labels is used to quickly associate storage areas, tools, equipment and supplies with specific tasks, work areas or products.

Another important area is to identify and clearly mark safety hazards. Use signs, labels and color coding to make recognition of a safety hazard fast and simple.

A good analogy to a visual workplace is our system of roads and highways. They have been designed as a visual system. Signs use shape, color, text and pictograms to convey information. Markings on the roadway inform us of passing zones, the edge of the road, bus lanes, one way streets, and upcoming exits. Mile markers, street signs and city limit signs allow us to identify our location. Just as our workplace should, our road systems use a variety of standardized visual methods to communicate the information we need, at the point of need.