TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY:

Standardized Visual Maintenance and Single point Lessons

Visual Management is designed to create a visual workplace with controls communicating

without words and interruptions in process. Visual Controls have the potential to help identify
problems, reduce waste, reduce production costs, shorten lead times, reduce inventory,
create a safe working environment, and even increase profits.

Visual Controls standardise decision making based on facts. Likewise, visual controls give us
the ability to tell normal from abnormal right away. Visual Controls can be used across your
business are equally effective in the office, operations or engineering. Visual controls can
also be powerful in maintaining quality and safety. There are a variety of different visual
controls one could use (McLean, n.d.).

• Examples:
 TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY:
Standardized Visual Maintenance and Single point Lessons

The Single Point Lesson is used to communicate single idea effectively in five to ten minutes
on one page. An effective single point lesson has the following characteristics:

• Visual supported pictures, diagrams, or drawings

• Short and focused
• Self-initiated and self taught
• Generated and used at the point of need

As an aid for spreading best practices company-wide, single point lessons can support and
enhance improvement efforts. The purpose of single point lessons include:

• Raising the knowledge and skills of the team in a very short period of time.
• Eliminating problems and for making improvements to the way of working.
• Making sure that everyone knows about a better way of doing something.
• Making sure that next time a problem is encountered everyone knows the way to
solve it.

A single point lesson is a learning tool for communicating standards, problems, and
improvements across a wide range of processes and work environments (McMahon, 2009).

• Example:
 TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY:
Standardized Visual Maintenance and Single point Lessons
References
McLean, T. (n.d.). The Types of Visual Controls. Retrieved from TXM Lean Solutions: https://txm.com/5-
types-of-visual-controls/

McMahon, T. (2009, June 10). Single Point Lessons: An Educational Tool. Retrieved from A Lean Journey:
http://www.aleanjourney.com/2009/06/single-point-lessons-educational-tool.html