Recently my colleague Badri and I were explaining to the COO of a very fast growing pharma company about the kind of changes we were attempting to bring about on the shop floor. The goal of the work is to have an “any time USFDA ready operation”. We took the COO through the ideas of optimizing the System Throughput and Value Stream Mapping. How we will standardize the various processes and introduce Visual Control Systems to maintain the standards.

As we were explaining the Visual Controls, he suddenly said, “aha! So that’s what I do all the time. I love to buy nice shirts and ties. I have got into the habit of placing them on numbered coat hangers. If the shirt is being laundered or ironed, I place a clear sign on the coat hanger. This way at a glance I know exactly what the picture is. I don’t waste any time searching for my favorite shirts and ties”.

Obviously, we had no more explaining to do. We now have the challenge of meeting the expectations of a very meticulous COO!

<< Back