Make it visible, make it understandable: put visual management into motion in your company 🛠️

If we walked into your workshop, offices or warehouse today…

Would it be immediately clear what needs to be done, what’s blocking the flow, and what has changed?

Too often, the answer is unclear. Between forgotten Post-its, whiteboards that are never updated, and oral instructions, a lot of information gets lost — or remains stuck in the heads of just a few people. The result: misunderstandings, wasted time, and mistakes.

So what if, instead of repeating ourselves (or shouting…), we simply showed things?

Welcome to visual management: a simple yet incredibly effective method to ensure that information truly circulates — and is understood at a glance.

A tool for the entire company — not just the shop floor

Visual management isn’t limited to production. It applies everywhere:

• Offices: project tracking, priority management

• Logistics: stock status, shipping schedules

• Maintenance: scheduling and follow-up of interventions

• Quality: non-conformity management and action plans

• Sales: visual tracking of quotes and follow-ups

Wherever there’s information flow, priorities to manage, or problems to solve, there’s a place for visual management.

Why it’s crucial in an industrial SME

In a small or medium-sized business, time is always tight, resources are limited, and everyone needs to be as autonomous as possible.

Poorly shared information immediately leads to issues in quality, delivery times, stress… and ultimately, direct impact on customer performance (OTD, OQD).

With proper visual management, workspaces — shop floors, offices, storage areas, meeting rooms — become living dashboards.

Everyone can see in real-time what’s progressing, what the priorities are, and above all, what’s going wrong.

“What is visible exists. What exists can be addressed. What is addressed can be improved.”

The link with other Lean practices

• VSM (Value Stream Mapping): global vision of flows

• 6S (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain, Safety): create a clear, orderly, safe work environment to boost performance and reduce waste

• 3G (Gemba, Genbutsu, Genjitsu): confirm observed reality

• Eliminating Muda: much easier when problems are visible to all

What are we really talking about?

Visual management is not about “putting up posters to look nice.”

It’s about making the state of a system — flows, production, tools, work conditions, admin tracking — visible and understandable at a glance.

Examples of tools:

• Floor markings to define storage, waiting, or scrap zones

• Clear pictograms on tools, bins, documents…

• Shop floor or office dashboards: targets vs actuals, daily issues

• Kanban boards to manage production or task progress

• Alert signals like Andon lights to indicate anomalies immediately

Best practices and common pitfalls

Good visual management doesn’t mean covering walls for the sake of it. Every visual element must have a purpose: to trigger an action or support a decision.

To be effective, a visual aid must:

1. 🎯 Have a clear purpose – inform, alert, guide, trigger action

2. 🛠 Be used – if it’s not part of decision-making, it’s just noise

3. ⏳ Be up-to-date – outdated visuals undermine the whole system

4. 👁 Be readable in seconds – avoid overloaded or overly technical visuals

5. 📍 Have a reason to be where it is – unused visuals become invisible

💡 Field tip: before installing a visual tool, ask yourself:

• Who will use it?

• When?

• For what purpose?

• What happens if I remove it?

How to get started

1. Map your flows

Identify key zones and points where information is lost. Use a simplified VSM.

Example: a diagram of the order journey, from intake to shipping, with red dots showing visibility gaps.

2. Install first visual cues

Floor markings, pictograms, simple control boards per line or department.

Example: a magnetic board with Kanban cards, issue sheets, and daily priorities.

3. Create a daily routine

10-minute check-in at shift start: production status, issues, planned actions.

Example: team leader does a visual checklist tour — checks OK/not OK items.

4. Show the real situation

Physical Kanban boards, issue cards, status panels with color codes.

Example: a red Andon light above a stopped machine.

5. Train and involve everyone

Assign visual management referents + train everyone to use and update visuals.

Example: a workshop demo followed by immediate hands-on application.

Conclusion

Visual management is a powerful lever to empower teams, streamline communication, and speed up problem-solving.

Start small, with a pilot area. Keep visuals alive. Say no to ghost visual management.

When the company speaks through its walls, its screens and its cards, the whole team becomes more efficient, more responsive… and more engaged 💪

📌 And you? What will you make visible tomorrow: a flow, a problem, a goal?

📖 Want to go further?

The IndustrialOS Guide helps you diagnose your current practices, identify your strengths, and spot areas for improvement.

🔍 From quick diagnostics to practical scenarios, best practices and tools — everything is centralized on our platform.

💡 Discover how IndustrialOS can help you centralize, communicate, structure and steer your improvement actions — from visual boards to deeper operational transformation.