At the time of writing this article, I have 15 years of experience in operational excellence in manufacturing, and for all these 15 years, I have been working on improving performance indicators. Strangely enough, wherever I worked, I heard the same reasons affecting poor performance. Obviously, if you ask a manager or operator what the main cause of problems is, the first things you hear are phrases like “Frequent breakdowns,” “Poor equipment design,” “Low-quality raw materials or packaging,” etc. And all these reasons are valid. However, if you dig deeper, it turns out that several fundamental factors, closely tied to management, affect all of the above. Here they are:
Traditional Approach
- Insufficient communication between employees. This means people do not communicate with each other and do not pass on important information that could impact the line’s performance. It’s good when an operator from the previous shift waits for the “new” operator and brings them up to speed. However, there are cases when operators don’t hand over shifts at all. It’s common when trying to figure out the cause of a breakdown during the night shift, and no one knows what exactly happened. Technical staff simply shrugs: “No one told me anything.”
- Delayed task execution or, in other words, weak performance. “Lack of discipline” is a phrase I hear regularly at all levels of the company. It can conceal anything from simple laziness to a lack of knowledge to perform tasks.
- Lack of focus. Often, it’s unclear where efforts should be directed to reverse a trend. As a result, management faces too many priorities. Consequently, people try to focus on every task, but in the end, none of the problems are solved. A variant of this problem is the fact that each department works on its own goals: production focuses on meeting the plan and improving efficiency indicators, the quality department prepares for audits, and the continuous improvement department implements the 5S system. As a result, at first glance, it seems like everyone is working to improve the production system, but in reality, departments compete for resources to complete their own tasks.
All these factors often prevent goals from being achieved, and even if they are achieved, it’s at a high cost.
Highly efficient workplace
Now imagine a production environment where:
- All employees know what is happening on the line and what initiatives are planned for the near future because they were involved in the decision-making process.
- Operators are aware of the problems in the previous shift, how they were addressed, and know what they need to do during their shift.
- Every factory employee knows the current performance metrics and the main losses on the line.
- Each operator knows how they impact performance indicators and actively eliminates losses.
- Each problem is addressed according to its complexity, involving the necessary specialists, and the escalation and cascading process works flawlessly!
I could continue describing a highly efficient workplace, but I think the main idea has been conveyed. An effective workplace is one where employees are informed about important matters and involved in the process of eliminating losses.
What is DMS?
The Daily Management System (DMS) is a fundamental system for building a highly efficient organization and represents a regular performance management process based on short, focused, daily meetings using digital or physical boards, involving representatives from all functions and levels of the organization.
An effective meeting is one where the team:
- Relies on verified data and facts when making decisions.
- Identifies problems and opportunities, agrees on actions, and prioritizes activities.
- Regularly reviews and updates the action plan.
- Uses the escalation and cascading process.
- Initiates projects to solve problems and creates standards.
- Recognizes achievements.
- Supports the meeting structure.
When we come to a meeting, we bring with us a lot of data. This can be performance indicators from the previous period (shift, day, week, etc.), problems that have arisen, the current status of ongoing activities, feedback from employees (escalated problems), and feedback from management (cascaded actions). The goal of the meeting is to turn this data into further actions. The outcome of the meeting can be feedback for a lower-level meeting, actions to eliminate a problem, or escalation to a higher level if the problem remains unresolved.
In other words, the meeting’s goal is to transform data into actions and answer three questions:
- What do the data tell us? Are we achieving our goals, or do we have “red indicators”? What is the trend – positive or negative? Are there any correlations?
- What are our losses? Where should we focus our resources to achieve our goals?
- What are we doing to eliminate losses? Do we have a clear action plan with deadlines and responsible parties to ensure the losses are eliminated?
DMS Structure
As mentioned earlier, DMS is based on short meetings, each held at its respective level and department. The classic structure of production DMS consists of four levels, with the first level being the operators’ meeting, the second level – the line meeting, the third level – the section meeting, and the fourth level – the factory meeting. Each meeting involves a cross-functional team of key employees relevant to that specific meeting. The structure is designed so that a representative from each lower level is present at the next level meeting.
For example, at the first level, operators meet to hand over the shift. During the shift handover, there is a review of the status of safety and quality, the performance indicators of the area, any issues that occurred, changes in settings, and other important information for the incoming operator. At the next level, all key operators with the information from the previous shift are present. They know what activities are expected during their shift and what help to request. Additionally, the second-level meeting is attended by other departments, such as the technical department, continuous improvement, quality, and safety.
Then, the DMS 2 leader, with the gathered information, proceeds to level three – the section level, where other DMS 2 leaders are present. And so on, up to the factory level.
Conclusion
The Daily Management System is a fundamental system for building a highly efficient organization. It is a very simple yet powerful tool that engages employees at all levels to achieve goals. The short, regular meetings, which are the foundation of DMS, allow for effective tracking of current line performance and task completion. The interconnected meeting structure facilitates the implementation of the escalation and cascading process.