Establishing a Digital Daily Work Management System in Manufacturing

A daily work management system is commonly used within manufacturing companies to establish a robust structure across all operations, from the shop floor to the leadership offices. In the context of Industry 4.0, the digitization of the Deming cycle (PDCA – Plan, Do, Check, Act) provides a daily work management system framework. This, in turn, helps manufacturers achieve their objective of continuous improvement.

How Can the PDCA Cycle Be Digitized?

The daily work management system can serve as a powerful tool, enabling manufacturers to drive accountability, gain better visibility, and adapt to changes in any process. Implementing a digital system does not automatically equate to completely overhauling existing legacy processes. Rather, it is about establishing a data foundation for all workflows and generating valuable and actionable insights from this data.

Assimilating and harnessing data for this data foundation can be accomplished by starting at the shop floor level. In most cases, manufacturers already have plenty of data that is disparate, disorganized, and unsystematic. A simple way to uniformly collect the data is by using digital forms. This allows leaders to gain intelligent information in real-time and gradually build historical data as well.

What are Some Advantages of a Digital Daily Work Management System?

The digitization of the PDCA cycle comes with numerous advantages that lead to continuous improvement and a culture of accountability.

1. Complete, Real-time Visibility

A digital daily work management system provides real-time visibility of the shop floor. It allows supervisors to attend to issues, track completed and pending actions, and understand areas of improvement. It also provides a clear picture of the factory to management by showcasing pertinent information on a dashboard.

2. Data-driven Meetings

In a data-driven organization, meetings are conducted with discipline and purpose. Digitization allows tracking of tasks, follow-ups, and issues. Each stakeholder is aware of their tasks and develops accountability for completing them. Furthermore, the organization, as a whole, saves valuable time by conducting structured meetings.

3. Easy Resolution of Issues

When tasks and actions are assigned systematically, it becomes straightforward for supervisors and managers to tackle escalations, conflicts, and other issues. In a digital system, alerts are automatically generated to the right person at the right time. Since the data is constantly collected and updated, insights and learnings from the data can be used to resolve future issues proactively.

4. Continuous Feedback

Data allows manufacturers to set appropriate KPIs and metrics to measure the performance of their team members. Individuals can obtain a complete view of their performance and understand where they are doing well and where they need to improve. They can also compare their performance to that of their peers. The fact that this feedback happens continuously and in real time ensures that improvements are made throughout the year.

Wrapping Up

Digitizing the PDCA cycle results in a robust daily work management system and allows manufacturing companies to become smart factories in the age of Industry 4.0. Read our other article on Continuous Improvement in the Age of Industry 4.0 to gain more insights.