SQCDP Board: A Visual Management Tool For The Shop Floor

Visual management tools are a common sight in most manufacturing facilities and help supervisors keep track of operations by providing a visual snapshot of KPIs and other important metrics.

One of the common iterations of visual management in the manufacturing environment is the SQCDP board. This board gives visibility into production performance, allowing manufacturers to improve relevant key performance indicators displayed on the board.

In this post, we’ll discuss how SQCDP boards are used in manufacturing how this tool can help drive your continuous improvement efforts in 2023 and beyond.

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An SQCDP board is a visual tool displaying selected production metrics and KPIs on the factory floor, depicting the team’s success in meeting these specific objectives.

The acronym SQCDP comprises the five general performance factors that define optimal manufacturing operations. In other words, the visual tools provide information regarding Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, and People.

Manufacturers will typically position the SQCDP board in a prominent, high-traffic area to provide quick access to information to everyone on the shop floor. As such, the team can easily track production performance, allowing for timely improvement across categories.

The five production performance categories depicted on an SQCDP board comprehensively cover the various happenings within a production environment. When manufacturers list various performance indicators under each category, they enable complete visibility of everything happening across the shop floor.

Here are some key metrics manufacturers typically add to this visual management tool:

Safety

The Safety aspect of SQCDP boards helps to track and monitor various safety elements of the manufacturing process. This includes metrics such as the number of accidents, near-misses, and other safety incidents. This information is used to identify and address potential safety hazards, and to ensure that all employees are working in a safe environment. Some of the key metrics that are tracked include:

• Number of incidents

• Days without incidents

• Events almost leading to a safety incident

• Injuries

• Safety violations

• Days missed due to safety incidents

Quality

The Quality aspect of SQCDP boards focuses on monitoring and improving the quality of the manufactured products. This includes a focus on quality defects, rework, and customer complaints. By monitoring these metrics, manufacturers can identify areas of the manufacturing process that may be causing quality issues and take steps to address them. Some key quality metrics include:

• Number of defective or nonconforming items

• Customer claims

• Production yield

Cost

The Cost aspect of SQCDP boards is used to track and monitor the cost of the manufacturing process. This includes metrics such as raw material costs, labor, and energy. By monitoring these metrics, manufacturers can identify areas where they can reduce costs and improve efficiency. KPIs here include:

• Inventory cost

• Waste and scrap cost

• Cost of overtime work

• Deviations from cost projections

Delivery

The Delivery aspect of SQCDP boards is used to track and monitor the delivery of the manufactured products. By monitoring delivery metrics, manufacturers can ensure that they are meeting customer delivery expectations and can take steps to improve delivery times if needed. Key delivery metrics include:

• Lead time

• On-time delivery

• Full order fulfillment

• Planned product volume and actual volume

People

The People aspect of SQCDP boards is used to track and monitor the performance of the employees on the shop floor. This includes metrics such as employee turnover, absenteeism, and training completion. By monitoring these metrics, manufacturers can identify areas where they need to improve employee engagement and satisfaction. For example:

• Overtime

• Personnel changes

• Paid time off

• Skill development

This visual management tool provides manufacturing businesses with a number of benefits, ultimately allowing them to optimize production operations for overall business success. Some of the specific benefits of SQCDP boards include:

Improved visibility: SQCDP boards provide a visual representation of key performance indicators and metrics, making it easy for employees to understand the performance of the manufacturing process and identify areas for improvement.

Increased accountability: By displaying performance data in a public location, SQCDP boards hold employees accountable for their actions and can encourage them to work towards meeting or exceeding performance targets.

Enhanced communication: SQCDP boards can serve as a tool for communicating performance data and goals to employees, helping to improve engagement and motivation.

Increased efficiency: By monitoring KPIs, manufacturers can identify areas of inefficiency and identify opportunities to automate processes, streamline workflows, and reduce costs.

Better quality control: SQCDP boards can help manufacturers identify areas of the manufacturing process that may be causing quality issues, allowing them to take steps to improve quality and reduce defects.

Increased safety: SQCDP boards can help manufacturers track and monitor safety performance, which can help identify and address potential safety hazards, and ensure that all employees are working in a safe environment.

Improved delivery times: By mWhy you should digitize your vonitoring delivery metrics, manufacturers can ensure that they are meeting customer delivery expectations and can take steps to improve delivery times if needed.

Employee engagement: SQCDP boards can help manufacturers track and monitor employee performance, which can help identify areas where they need to improve employee engagement and satisfaction.

SQCDP boards are an important tool for manufacturers to track and monitor important metrics and KPIs on the shop floor. They provide a visual representation of the performance of the manufacturing process, and can be used to identify areas of improvement and drive continuous improvement efforts.

Oftentimes, however, these visual management tools are static, typically displayed on whiteboards with manual writing and data entry. While beneficial at a high level, this more traditional visual management tool creates some limitations compared to a real-time, digital representation.

First, static SQCDP boards are anchored in one location, making the data less accessible to those located away from the shop floor. By digitizing this information, supervisors and managers can access their KPIs from anywhere, at any time. This allows those responsible to identify problems and issue corrective action in a more timely manner.

Additionally, digital production dashboards and visual management tools can be integrated with various other systems and tools, providing a real-time view of exactly what’s happening on the shop floor as opposed to a daily or weekly update. By integrating these tools with the overarching planning and execution systems, the dashboard can provide more actionable insights for decision-makers.

Tulip’s Frontline Operations Platform can connect the various, systems, machines, and operators within a manufacturing environment to automate data collection and track progress across every stage of production.

Our platform is flexible and can be customized to fit your existing systems and processes, enabling seamless integration. Additionally, data can be displayed on any device and accesses from any location allowing managers and supervisors to respond quickly and drive continuous improvement initiatives.

If you’re interested in learning how Tulip can be used to collect and visualize real-time production data, reach out to a member of our team today!