Putting targets to work with production boards

As a business leader you will recognise the importance of setting the right targets for different parts of the business. You probably have regular reviews with your staff, to discuss how well everyone is doing at meeting and exceeding targets. But the fundamental limitation when you review last week’s targets is that it’s too late to do anything about them.

This is particularly true in production, where throughput is limited by the capacity of the machines; if someone eases off a little then it’s almost impossible to make up that lost output.

It’s far better to let all your people know how well they are performing against targets, today, right now. For staff who work at a computer most of the day, you can provide dashboards and similar tools. That’s why customisable, individual reports and dashboards are a key part of Gtrak. But on the factory floor, you need a different approach:

Production boards on the factory floor

We are finding that ever more glass manufacturers are using information screens in their production facilities. Production boards are large, wall-mounted screens that give your supervisors and staff an instant snapshot of how they are doing: whether they are on track to fulfil customer orders or need to increase the pace.

Typically, you will show different information in different parts of the building, so people remain focused on the activities that they personally can influence:

• For example, in the loading bay, the screens may provide a snapshot of the orders that are being loaded onto stillages and where in production the remaining parts are.
  
  
• Similarly, it can be valuable to let people know if a particular order is being held up by something that they need to complete.
  
  
• Supervisors can benefit from more high-level information on the screens, such as overall production throughput or highlighting workstations where work is backing up.
  
  
• On days when there are no big deadlines, it is useful for supervisors and staff to know if there is a lot of work scheduled ahead, so that instead of easing off, they can bring work forward and make the coming workload more manageable.

Live updates and flexible content

Although the targets are yours, the information that your people need is often best determined by them and the practicalities of how they work. So, listen to feedback from your staff about the content of the boards and be prepared to change what is shown.

With Gtrak it is easy to create dynamic production boards that are automatically updated in real time. You can customise your own screens and adapt them whenever you need to.

Find out more

If you would like more ideas about how we could help and what works best in practice, please get in touch.