ABSTRACT

Metrics provide the quantitative data to drive behavior assuming there is relevancy and genuine interest shown by business leadership. Huddle boards along with +quality, delivery, inventory, and productivity boards are two great tools for visual management, communication, and—most importantly—continuous improvement. Visual management in the form of cell, focus factory, and business metric displays is critical to the sustaining the continuous improvement cycle and gemba walks. Metric displays and daily huddle meetings, at the gemba, help in each stage of the cycle and are critical to observing/identifying and eliminating the abnormalities. The script for the leadership huddle should be a quick review of the daily metrics, a communication of any important announcements or visitors, a quick review of questions from lower-level huddles, and then a learning minute given by someone knowledgeable about the topic. Usual topics for the mini-training sessions are finance terms, product applications, safety talks, Lean concepts, or customer information.