Visual management and escalation triggers

Learning objectives

• Explain the purpose of visual management and escalation triggers in a garment-factory improvement project.
• Apply the described method to a representative shop-floor situation.
• Recognize the common mistakes and how to avoid them.

Concept

Visual management makes normal, abnormal, target, ownership, and required response understandable at a glance.

Show target, actual, trend, standard, status, owner, timestamp, action, due date, and escalation path.

Place visuals where action occurs; use accessible color plus text/symbols so meaning survives color blindness.

Garment-factory example

An hourly board shows output, DHU, WIP, downtime, reason, countermeasure, and escalation threshold by line.

Method

1. Define the decisions the board must support.
2. Select few measures.
3. Prototype with users.
4. Set red/amber triggers.
5. Connect to tier meetings.
6. Audit response time.

Common mistakes

• Stale data no one updates.
• Red indicators with no named action or owner.