Creating a Lean Culture, 3rd Edition

Visual Controls ◾ 105

data from process assets. But even these operations have people present

somewhere in the process to observe parameters, and perform maintenance

tasks, clean and change filters, manually load or stock up particular stations,

make rounds to watch for early signs of characteristic problems and inter-

vene to prevent them, and so on. The PLCs and automated data recording

gear typically are not set up to feel, hear, see, or smell a change in the way

the equipment is operating, or to reason what conditions prompted a par-

ticular manual adjustment.

Both Visuals and Automated Tracking

This “scene of the crime” information based on human sensory data is valu-

able. The eighth waste in Lean calls out underutilized people. It is an e ...