In the morning meeting in the classic sense, all employees are brought up to date on the basis of overarching standards and topics from the previous day are discussed and the results from this meeting are discussed in front of a pin board. The morning round or Shopfloor Management usually includes topics from the areas of quality, occupational safety, productivity/performance, action control and logistics.
In many production companies, the morning round or Shopfloor Management has established itself as a very effective tool for continuous improvement. Nevertheless, in the age of Industry 4.0 and digitalization (digital factory), new opportunities and possibilities arise as to how existing processes can be adapted and optimized, according to the motto “Traditional things have proven themselves… and still have to change”, while retaining the basic content of the classic morning round.
The digitalization of the morning round as digital Shopfloor Management replaces the previous decentralized preparation of data in tools such as Excel or Power Point. Instead, a centralized store floor system is used for data collection, archiving, provision and processing. This digitalization of the morning round brings with it a number of advantages, which are summarized here as examples in five areas of efficiency:
For the morning meeting in the classic sense, the manual effort required for preparation is often considerable, as the relevant data is compiled and prepared and then posted on the pinboard in paper form. Despite the considerable effort required for preparation, the information is only available locally.
By using a central, database-based store floor system and the corresponding automated provision of data, the information can be accessed anytime and anywhere. This is the only way to ensure that important information is distributed quickly and easily. If, for example, system malfunctions occur, this information is not only important for the participants in the morning round. Rather, this information should be distributed to other areas as quickly and easily as possible.
As already described, an enormous amount of preparation is required to prepare the data for the classic morning round. If problems are identified, further information that is not available may be important.
By recording the data electronically (automatically and manually) and archiving it, the information is available centrally in the database. In addition, the data is automatically processed in the central store floor system (e.g. in the form of aggregations). The central archiving of data and its preparation allows the creation of flexible analyses without additional preparatory work. Employees are able to flexibly create their own evaluations based on historical data.
By looking at progressions and trends, deviations can be identified directly and dealt with in a targeted manner. All evaluations and visualizations are based on the same original data records, which means that there are no discrepancies between the original data and the calculated data. This makes it easy to drill down to the last detail!
Rational topics play a major role in the classic morning meeting, and the topic of “employee motivation” rarely finds a place in such a meeting. Archiving the data (e.g. accidents at work or quantities achieved) and viewing it over time also allows information that has an impact on employee motivation to be visualized – in this way, “successes” that have an impact on employee motivation can be visualized in the digital morning round. For example, in the area of occupational safety, the topic “Accident-free since…” can be visualized.
The productivity or performance of the previous shift could be underlined in the form of a smiley face, for example. If the planned number of pieces has been achieved, a smiling smiley appears and turns green. Other scenarios are of course conceivable.
In certain situations, it is necessary to analyze the process or a specific problem in more detail. This requires additional information, apart from the data from the morning round. Previously, such information was not available on an ad-hoc basis; instead, the employee had to “search” for it in other systems/files. In the age of Industry 4.0, this workflow should be simplified to such an extent that all relevant information is directly available in one view. For digital Shopfloor Management, this means integrating data from third-party systems (e.g. quality and logistics systems) into the central shopfloor system.
In addition to the contents of a morning meeting presented so far, the CIP (continuous improvement process) and the resulting process improvement is of course one of the core elements. In the classic morning meeting, measures that lead to a possible process improvement are defined and listed on the pinboard, including responsibility and plan date – the measure or its status is only tracked manually.
In the context of the digital morning round, the measures are created and archived in the central store floor system – if the status etc. changes, the measure is automatically updated. Nevertheless, the familiar process is retained: As part of the CIP, measures are defined to permanently eliminate regularly occurring problems (e.g. quality, system malfunction, etc.). The PDCA cycle or the Demming circle defines four phases that are run through within the improvement process:
Tracking the measures and evaluating them based on the four phases is therefore possible at the touch of a button. If problems or measures arise that cannot be solved directly, additional help from experts is required. The integration of internal communication media allows the temporary involvement of knowledge carriers without the need for personal presence on site.
The digitalization of the morning round creates an interactive, paperless store floor system for all production-relevant topics, from machine to employee – as part of an MES. For the actual system operation, the basic configuration of the MES should already include functions for IT system monitoring and alerting, which only need to be adapted slightly for each application.
Start screen of the digital Shopfloor Management of the MES software Legato Sapient. 20 minutes morning round is started. The focus is on safety, quality and logistics.
Predefined process with a fixed number of participants or roles. One store floor meeting per shift or day is held for each area/team. Information is aggregated from the bottom up: Incidents (e.g. delays, accidents) or production figures (unit counters, KPIs) are recorded at the bottom at store floor level. The aggregation of these values is then available at a higher level. The news boardlet is used for announcements and general information, where information flows from top to bottom.
The participants or roles are initially defined for each node or area where a store floor meeting is held. For these roles, the attendance per meeting is entered for the employees and can be evaluated in various views.
The three calendars Safety, Quality and Logistics are used to record incidents. The option of providing additional customer-specific calendars can be guaranteed. An overview of the existing incidents filtered by area and incident type can be seen at the bottom of the store floor dashboard; when an incident is selected in the list, a window opens with a detailed view of the incident in which it can be edited.
Here you can see an example of the “Quality” area in the digital Shopfloor Management software. Quality data and other information can be checked and controlled via this area to ensure seamless tracking and production.
Here you can see an example of the “Logistics” area within Digital Shopfloor Management. Important information on logistics within your production can be viewed here.
Here you can see an example of the general production KPIs in the digital Shopfloor Management software. This allows you to check the KPIS that are important to you and tackle improvements if problems are identified.
Drill down into the areas, lines, shifts, online data from the MES system and the machines.
Viewing all relevant data from machine data acquisition, prepared in the corresponding dashboards, is part of the digital store floor meeting.
Measures are created, for example, as a result of an incident (“Worker slipped” -> leads to “Clean floor” measure).
Task management enhancements: e-mail notification, link to checklists, subtasks, assignment to user groups.
The digital dashboard provides direct access to the necessary data of all types and origins. You have several options for importing data:
An example of this is the information on your production waste within Digital Shopfloor Management. This allows you to see how high your reject rate is and what measures you can take to reduce it.
Actual quantity:
The adjacent image shows the “actual number of pieces” within production with our software. You can see here how many pieces have been produced and can flexibly track these figures in order to increase your production.
Productivity:
You can also use Shopfloor Management to display the productivity of your production – i.e. the ratio of output to input – in order to draw conclusions for even more efficient production.
If, for example, quality is discussed, the customer returns, quality problems, etc. are made available in a report. Furthermore, individual customer returns from the CAQ system are further explained. All with drill-down functionality for more detailed information.
When discussing logistics, for example, the delays, expensive premium shipments, etc. are made available in a report. Furthermore, individual logistics problems (disruption in the high-bay warehouse, replenishment too late, …) are explained. All with drill-down functionality for more detailed information.
In manufacturing, “shop floor” means something like “hall floor”, “workshop” or “factory floor”. It is the place where production takes place and added value is created. Shopfloor Management therefore means that management takes place directly on the shopfloor, i.e. the production and value creation processes are controlled by the active presence of managers on site.
The store floor meeting is an effective production management tool. It usually has a regular agenda, takes place daily and lasts around 15 minutes. Shopfloor meetings are a dialog between production managers and employees and help to openly address process problems, get to the root of them and eliminate them quickly.
Would you like to know more about our solutions? Then please write us using the contact form. My colleagues and I look forward to exchanging ideas with you.
Dominik Weggler
Head of Sales Germanedge