A Job Board that works for me

[James Burke]

I’ve tried just about every method to help me keep organized when it comes to scheduling jobs, and I think I might have found what works best for me.

While working part time for a Japanese manufacturing company for the past three months, I’ve been able to glean a bunch of good ideas when it comes to “visual management” systems. (Google the word “Kanban” for more information).

I used to have a whiteboard for job scheduling, but priorities always kept changing…which required daily erasing and re-writing…resulting in a frustrated mess.

My new system utilizes a magnetic whiteboard with yellow magnets slightly larger than a big post-it note. Since all of the job’s information is already on a work order, I’ve purposely kept the amount of information on the magnet to the bare minimum so as not to be a distraction. I can now move each job around as needed without a lot of trouble.

My office space is limited, so I had to settle for a 36” x 24” whiteboard. The section marked “priority” is basically set aside for what needs to be done “today”. I would imagine a person could get pretty creative with a larger board and different categories, but in my case, I have to keep things simple.

The magnets measure 4” x 3”, and the image is hot stamped. I use Vis-à-vis (wet erase) markers since dry erase markers rub off too easily.

JB

Update: Since my computer monitor seems to be over run with regular post-it notes, I plan to make up some blank magnets for general note writing and place them on another board next to the desk.

 

[James Chrimes]

That one look's a bit more organized than mine. I just wright down the current jobs in order of priority. Looks like a mess. lol

 

[kanini]

I started using Trello this year and it works very well. It's like an online version of the whiteboard, but it takes a while to get used to put in all jobs in the system...

 

[James Burke]

I started using Trello this year and it works very well. It's like an online version of the whiteboard, but it takes a while to get used to put in all jobs in the system...

I find it ironic that the Japanese (innovators of many of our high-tech gadgets) still seem to prefer very low-tech / low-cost manual methods in their visual management systems.

JB

 

[MikePro]

big fan of our 4'x8' magnetic dry-erase board with black vinyl graphics:

-numbers have matching sleeves that hold a paper copy of the ticket and drawings.
-board is split between our typical "jobs" which are packages that include multiple levels of production (sheet metal fab, illumination, paint, etc.) and the "yellow tickets" which are one-sided projects such as vinyl decals, banners, digital prints, n' such.
-color-coded magnets for checklist items add another layer to displaying progress in the shop.

however, this has been our standard since the early 90's, and is in need of upgrade.
So I'm currently working on a "2013" version that will involve a chalkboard-style with blacklight /fluorescent markers and possibly a digital display.

 

[binki]

We use 2 white boards divided by job type. It is tough to keep them up to date though. The daytime is insane with the lobby full of customers and orders coming in and going out and each of us works both production and sales/deliveries. The hardest part is just the size of the shop, too small for what we do but we manage.

 

[mnapuran]

+1 on Trello

 

[FatCat]

Wow, just downloaded and started using Trello and see it has a lot of potential!

Thanks guys!!!

 

[CES020]

I find it ironic that the Japanese (innovators of many of our high-tech gadgets) still seem to prefer very low-tech / low-cost manual methods in their visual management systems.

JB

I spent a lot of time in manufacturing, studying and putting those techniques into place for 2 plants. It was one of the hardest things to grasp and I think at least 95% of people in business just don't "get it". But those that do, really, really shine. When done properly, it's one of the most amazing things to see in action. People are so hard wired into technology that they don't want to believe low tech works, but not only does it work, it works very well when done correctly.

There is a lot of information on Visual Management out there.

Keep in mind, most all of it came from the USA. The US decided to ignore it all, for the most part, after the war, so all that went out the window. The Japanese saw great value in it and embraced those Americans that were teaching it.

If you are interested in that stuff, search and read things on Dr. Deming. Probably one of the smartest guys on the planet. He's passed away now, but his legacy is out there. Follow Deming's work and you'll increase your chances of succeeding at most anything. It doesn't only apply to work, it applies to most everything in life. Brilliant guy.

 

[James Burke]

search and read things on Dr. Deming. Probably one of the smartest guys on the planet.

Thanks for the insight. I'm a die-hard lifelong learner and I always look for new avenues to explore.


JB

 

[CES020]

My pleasure. Dr. Deming's concepts have been used across many industries. Towards the end of his life, they were applying his methods to school systems and the results were stunning. If you ever wanted to know how to fix our government, it's really quite simple. Apply Deming's teachings to it and we'd have more money than we could count and it would be the most efficient government in the world.

I don't have many people I studied much about, but Deming was my favorite. Just pure genius. Honda and Toyota exist in the USA because they listened to him. When the US was making cars that were engineered to break at 50-60K miles, they were listening to Deming about quality and started making cars that lasted 5 times that for less money. Not because they knew something we didn't, but purely because they listened to him (and others like him), and we didn't.

Let me know if you do follow that path any. I'd love to have someone on here to chat with about it.

 

[James Burke]

After a weekend of learning about kanban, I realized my job board has all the makings of being a full-blown kanban (pull card) scheduling system. I need to re-letter the board this weekend, and perhaps tweak the content on the magnets, but I'll report back after I get it fine tuned.

Essentially, the magnets will move from left to right across the board. This is accomplished by pulling a magnet (representing a completed job) from the right side of the board just beneath the priority heading.

Small / quick, and easy-to-do jobs should have the ability to quickly filter through the job board, theoretically improving cash flow. And longer jobs, or jobs waiting on materials or customer input will be allowed to move as variables permit.

For all the Trello fans, it appears a kanban plugins are available.

JB

 

[JoeBoomer]

We threw our job board away and went to google calendar. Always in real-time and accessible from anywhere.

 

[CES020]

After a weekend of learning about kanban, I realized my job board has all the makings of being a full-blown kanban (pull card) scheduling system. I need to re-letter the board this weekend, and perhaps tweak the content on the magnets, but I'll report back after I get it fine tuned.

Essentially, the magnets will move from left to right across the board. This is accomplished by pulling a magnet (representing a completed job) from the right side of the board just beneath the priority heading.

Small / quick, and easy-to-do jobs should have the ability to quickly filter through the job board, theoretically improving cash flow. And longer jobs, or jobs waiting on materials or customer input will be allowed to move as variables permit.

For all the Trello fans, it appears a kanban plugins are available.

JB

Don't forget the use of colors. They can help a great deal. You can make them mean anything you want. When I went to work at the place I put it all in place, they had work orders that were tied to sales orders that had actually been open for 4 years. The average time it took for a job to go through the shop was 31 business days. That was the average. When I left, the average was 4 days.

With the old system, it was all computer driven and all the jobs were just jobs on a list. So if something changed, then the 10 reports people used to track jobs were no longer valid. So your schedule was only up to date when you had freshly printed reports. Take that down to the shop floor and all the information was just on lists, on paper.

We made the job packs different colors, based on due dates. We had 4 or 5 colors (maybe even 6), so all jobs due next week would be in yellow packs. Seems stupid and simple, and meaningless, but what it did was allow anyone in the entire company to walk through the shop and see problem issues. More than once, and a LOT more than once, we'd have someone that had nothing to do with production walking through the shop for coffee, and say "Hey, why is that blue pack here?" and they'd actually raise it as an issue, which would get addressed immediately. It gave use the ability to visually see problem jobs, and believe it or not, it made a huge difference. You could walk by a problem job for months if it was just on a list that you may never see. However, when it's visual, it made everyone aware of it and it got resolved.

I'm not suggesting you use colors like that, but DO use colors, and even shapes. If you have small jobs that help cash flow, then make them a certain color or shape. If you have high margin jobs, make them a color or shape. Make it so you can see, at a glance, what you need to be doing.

Just my opinion.

 

[401Graphics]

can trello be used on a iphone? is there a app?

 

[CES020]

Thanks for all the great info - I'm really interested in learning about this Dr. Deming character.

Any specific books you'd recommend?

Pat, the most well known book is probably "Out of Crisis". I'll warn you in advance, it's a tough book. Not tough because it's hard to understand, but in talks with people I know that don't make things, some people seem to have a difficult time taking the concepts from the book and applying them to their business. They focus on the details and examples and think it only works for that industry. They completely miss the point.

I'd also say that you're not going to get Visual Management out of Deming books. So if you're looking for a book that helps you with visual management, then Deming probably isn't going to help you. What he does do is help you refine your business.

I think I fell in love with his work when I began reading it years ago. One thing he said was that a layoff was a complete and total failure of senior management, and that instead of laying off the people that had nothing to do with getting work and changing business directions, how about laying off the people that drove the company into that situation by ignoring market trends and refusing to diversify their companies so that they maintained work. He was constantly talking about management failures and how the people that were always punished for management failures were the people that did billable work and had no input into creating or resolving the issues. I worked at a global company at the time, and we had about 250 people at that location, and I watched people nearly beg us to make their products for them and they were all refused. That company today has 3 people at that location, and they closed down an entire plant that had over 1200 people working at it. All because they refused to get into other markets. So senior management's decisions cost the blue collar workers their entire jobs. That's when Deming became one of my heroes.

There's so much out there, if you just want visual management, search for that. Search for "5S" and things like that. I have quite a few books and I was looking through some of them last night and they all share one thing. They all have small nuggets of great information, but the majority of the information wouldn't apply to sign shops too much. So I'd had to recommend one book that cost $40 that has 5 pages in it that is really good information.

Just think simple. We ran our entire plant off using Visual Management. Remember this one simple point- it should be easy enough for a 8 year old to understand it. So with less than 5 minutes "training", you should be able to take a 8 year old through it and it should make sense to them. It should NEVER be complicated. Never. And believe me, since I was in charge of all of it, I really did take kids and bring them through the shop and ask them questions about it all. You'd be surprised at how good that works.

The Japanese had a term for waste, it was called "muda" (moo da). If anything you do doesn't contribute to making you more profit, then it's muda and needs to be eliminated.

Sorry, I'm rambling now. Any specific things I can help with, please ask. I lived this stuff for years and I loved it, but talked to anyone about it in quite a while.

 

[idsignsil]

401 - there is an iphone app for Trello. It only shows one list at a time and you have to pull down on the list to update. I think it is pretty good on the iphone, they did not scale everything down and try to make it all fit to where it is so small you can't see it.

 

[James Burke]

Any specific things I can help with, please ask. I lived this stuff for years and I loved it, but talked to anyone about it in quite a while.

I think this topic is in need of a new thread, so look for "Resolution 2013: Kaizen" in the Business Management Forum.


JB

 

[thesignexpert]

We threw our job board away and went to google calendar. Always in real-time and accessible from anywhere.

+1 for Google Calendar. I can invite anyone I want, add all of the details for the project, map it, very easy to categorize and shift projects around. It's been the most functional for us.

 

[Sven]

I use a Google Docs (now called Drive) Spreadsheet. Works great. Easy to rearrange rows and columns, color code cells, copy & paste, use multiple sheets, etc.

 

[James Burke]

I use a Google Docs (now called Drive) Spreadsheet. Works great. Easy to rearrange rows and columns, color code cells, copy & paste, use multiple sheets, etc.

After doing a lot of study about visual management, many of the experts are still leaning toward a manual board that provides "at-a-glance" information that is easily accessible (and updateable) by all.

I guess the only way it would work electronically is if everybody were issued a device to do so.


JB