In my last post, I described how I’ve found my attention shifting to different aspects of dashboards in GainSeeker Suite over the last few years. At first, I was enamored with the technology, and then I began noticing the different types of data that people displayed on them. I was impressed how quickly they transcended traditional statistical process control applications.
More recently I’ve found myself intrigued by the ways people use dashboards to do their jobs.
The first type of dashboard that I’ve noticed is the Scoreboard. Sometimes I hear people call these Line Displays. Once I heard a customer call it a JumboTron.
I like the Scoreboard language because it instantly brings a picture to mind. Even a church league softball match will have a scoreboard somewhere. Scoreboards keep everyone – athletes and spectators – up-to-date on where they stand. They’re especially important in team sports.
A factory scoreboard isn’t that different. It presents information visually and publicly. Everyone can see exactly where they stand. They’re always up to date.
The other parallel between a sports scoreboard and a business scoreboard is that both present information to the viewer. The information flow is all one way. Other than glancing up at it periodically, the viewer does not expect to interact with the scoreboard. This is sharp contrast to the dashboard that we’ll look at in the next post, the War Room Dashboard.
Here are a couple of Scoreboards to illustrate the point (click on photo to enlarge):
At this filling operation, a Scoreboard Dashboard displays OEE information high overhead so everyone can see at an instant how the line is running against targets.
At Harman’s Crown Audio plant, a Scoreboard Dashboard displays test results and pack information of each of five lines. Color coding makes it easy to see whether the line is meeting goals.
At Snyder’s of Hanover, a Scoreboard in the pack room gives instant, color-coded exception notices.
In the next post we’ll take a look at some Meeting Room Dashboards.
In the meantime, what do you use today so that your people know the score? Do they know where they stand on a minute-to-minute basis on quality, productivity, and efficiency? Use the ShareThis button below to mark this page, leave a comment, schedule a conversation, or call 800-958-2709.
