Designing visual management in manufacturing from a user perspective

Abstract

Many organisations use daily meetings, whiteboards and an information system for employee intra-communication. While Operation Management research is often management centred, Human Centred Design, instead, takes a user’s perspective. This research aims to reflect upon and describe a method, applied in practice in a double case study within manufacturing, on how to (re-)design meetings and visual management boards, and what type of information and key performance indicators are most relevant for the personnel. The paper proposes a lean Kata-improvement inspired design method, which takes the personnel’s perspective on design of daily visual management.