The Visual Workplace: Work That Makes Sense (Business)

It is not the number of visual devices that transforms a company into a highly-functioning visual work environment. It is the power of those devices. That’s what separates watered-down copycat devices from highly-effective visual solutions…and cosmetic visuality from authentic visual function. In this week’s episode, Gwendolyn Galsworth, visual workplace expert and your host, defines what visual devices are—and how to make them increasingly effective by applying the steps of visual power....

“Never in U.S. history has the subject of healthcare costs been so visible or so contentious….” Thus begins Naida Grunden’s groundbreaking new book, Lean-Led Hospital Design (Charles Hagood/co-author). This week on The Visual Workplace, Gwendolyn Galsworth, your host and visual workplace expert, interviews Ms. Grunden on her concept of lean-led hospital design and why she considers it is indispensable to minimizing soaring healthcare costs. Hear why, when asked “When do you build?“ Grunden...

Napoleon, Churchill, Roosevelt, Gandhi, Bernstein, Jobs, Battenburg. Natural leaders all. How did they naturally lead? They set the direction, assigned resources, and held steady to the course. What natural leaders do intuitively, we can learn through the practiced use of visual leadership tools. This week Gwendolyn Galsworth, your host and visual expert, delves into three such tools: Business Systems Improvement Template, X-Type Matrix, and Operations Road Map. These high-level Doorway 4...

What do we mean by a fully-functioning visual workplace. What do we mean when we say a company has reached a showcase level of workplace visuality? This week, your host and visual workplace expert, Gwendolyn Galsworth, announces the three first recipients of The Visual Workplace/Ten Doorways Prize: Delphi Deltronicos in Mexico, Parker Hannifin in California, and Royal Nooteboom Trailers in Holland. The purpose of The Prize is to confer recognition and appreciation on companies that have...

What happened at Sheldlah that allowed it to pursue problem solving (“PS”) with such strength that, in 1987, it adopted this: “A problem is any thing that inconveniences anyone downstream.” Though not widely recognized, all problem solving is fundamentally about creating new standards, new reliable procedures, that allow us to repeatedly achieve the value/specs our customer wants. In too many companies, PS merely organizes the noise around a problem so that it becomes approachable instead of...

What do we mean by a fully-functioning visual workplace. What do we mean when we say a company has reached a showcase level of workplace visuality? This week, your host and visual workplace expert, Gwendolyn Galsworth, announces the three first recipients of The Visual Workplace/Ten Doorways Prize: Delphi Deltronicos in Mexico, Parker Hannifin in California, and Royal Nooteboom Trailers in Holland. The purpose of The Prize is to confer recognition and appreciation on companies that have...

Standards are the bedrock of all work, paving the way to repeatable, precise, and predictable outcomes. What manager/supervisor does not pursue standards, standard work, and standardization as the starting point of control and the end of human error? But where do Visual Standards fit in? And can they ensure exact, stable performance? In our show this week, your host and visual workplace expert, Gwendolyn Galsworth, maps out the conceptual and application profile of visual standards: what...

There are many useful improvement methodologies in the world. But far too many fail early on for one or both of two reasons. First, companies do not put a success framework in place prior to launch. Second, they have no plan that will help them track early victories and harvest them into powerful next steps. This week on The Visual Workplace, your host and visual workplace expert, Gwendolyn Galsworth, begins to share the set of specific elements or requisites she helps companies structure in...

Products are getting more complex and supply chains are getting longer—and not just because they are located in other countries. Some companies are doing it right, focusing on an integrated supply base. Others don’t think much about supply chain, content to let the chips fall where they may! In this week’s show, your host and visual system expert, Gwendolyn Galsworth, interviews Tricia Moody, supply chain expert and author/co-author of more than a dozen business improvement books, including...

How do you bring visuality to a manufacturing setting that sometimes requires a full year to complete and ship a single product? How do you ignite and maintain interest? And what role does management play in keeping the momentum strong? In this show, host Gwendolyn Galsworth is joined by two master practitioners at Brandt Engineered Products (Canada): Stewart Bellamy, Quality Assurance/Lean Manager, and Barry Freeman, Paint/Assembly Manager. Listen as they share insights, expertise, and...

What is the key to sustainability? This is a question Brent Allen, VP of Strategic Improvement, asked himself repeatedly over his career at Lifetime Products (Utah). Overtime, he realized that many lean tools can trigger good results. But results don’t last if they are not operator-led. In today’s show, Mr. Allen discusses this with host Gwendolyn Galsworth, leading visual workplace expert and award-winning author. He explains why Lifetime chose workplace visuality and how the company uses...

Have you noticed? When you engage in a change process, at least one key moment will occur when the values and principles of that proposed change are tested. This is a “moment of truth” and the outcome of all your hopes and efforts hangs in the balance. In today’s show, host Gwendolyn Galsworth interviews thought leader, Carol Shaw, who for over 30 years has designed change curriculum, introduced subject experts, coached leaders, and taught seminars to thousands of companies as they pass...