The Visual Factory

The Visual Factory

Light It Up for Quality!

Why Visual Management?

How Do I Turn the Pump On???

Visual Management = Clarity

Make it clear

■ What to do

■ That it was done correctly

■ If something went wrong

■ What needs to be improved

The Visual Factory GoesEven Further

Visual management (5S, etc.)

Illumination

+ Indication

Visual Factory

Five Steps to the Visual Factory

1. Illuminate the work area

2. Use light-guided assembly when possible

3. Communicate process status to operators

4. Communicate status to supervisors

5. Communicate plant-wide status

Light Up the Gemba

■ Gemba means “the real place”

■ Proper illumination drives up quality by revealing defects

■ Start by choosing an illumination level (lux)

■ Lux = lumens/m²

■ Example: 1000 lumen light over a 2 m² work surface = 500 lux

Light Up the Gemba

■ Lux level required: ■ The Illumination Engineering Society recommended levels:

Clear Daylight Overcast Daylight TwilightHallway

Light Up the Gemba

■ What is color temperature?

– The temperature of a black bodyradiating a comparable hue tothe LED color

– Higher temperatures (eg., 5000°K)are bluer (cool white)

– Lower temperatures (eg., 2500°K)are yellower (warm white)

■ Why is it important?

– Cool whites produce more contrastin general

– For color-based inspections, the color temperature will be specified such as D50, meaning Daylight 5000°K

What About Light Consistency?

■ The Illumination Engineering Society recommends no more than a 3:1 ratio of light intensity

■ You can get a quick read of this with a Lux meter app on your iPhone

■ See Megaman Lux Meter

Why Use LED Lighting forWork Areas?

■ Flicker-free light

■ Highest efficiency (3 x lumens/W)

■ Long life (50,000 hrs)

■ Non-hazardous materials

■ Compact size

■ Higher color temp

Use Light Guided Assembly

Use Light Guided Assembly

Use Light Guided Assembly

Use Light-Guided Assembly

Banner Offers Four Levels of Guide Lights

Indicators withSensor Arrays

Indicators with Buttons

Simple Indicators

Indicators with Sensors

Communicate Status within the Work Cell

■ The problem with traditional indicators is that they require a panel or enclosure and end up mounted away from the operator’s direct view

■ Banner indicators are designed for direct machine mounting

■ They can also be moved and adjusted for continual improvement

Communicate Status within the Work Cell

Human Factors Engineering

■ According to principles of Human Factors Engineering, visual indicators should be:

– Conspicuous - mount them where they make sense, not simply where the electrical enclosure happens to be mounted

– Unambiguous - indicators should befree of color when in the off state

■ Only EZ-LIGHTs can provide this.

– The color goes to gray whenthe light is off

■ Reduces “visual clutter”

Depending on the ambient lighting, it’s not immediately clear which lights are on and off

Communicate Process Statusat the Cell Level

■ Banner tower lights and beacons arepre-assembled, so theycan be deployed quickly

■ Because they areLED-based, there is no need to take them apart and replace bulbs

Use Wireless to CommunicateStatus Plant Wide

■ The sender and receiver of information are often separated by long distances

■ Wireless solutions are the fastest and most cost-effective way to make the link

■ Continuous improvement: “Decide carefully; implement quickly.”

The Visual Factory Links People to the Process

■ The Visual Factory is the foundation ofall quality systems

■ It enables Kaizen, continuous improvement, by assemblers, supervisors and managers

■ Banner has the widest array of Visual Factory solutions available

Thank You

Questions?