Shopfloor Management – A Tool of Lean Management

Abstract Lean management is an approach to continuous process optimisation. The methodology involves the entire value chain. The individual links are made more efficient and thus leaner. The main goal of lean management is to use various lean methods, procedures and thinking principles to coordinate all processes and activities in such a way that any kind of waste along the value chain is avoided in a holistic production system. This would result in the following main difficulties: Transporting information quickly and purposefully to the right places in the company. This is where the lean tool of shopfloor Management (SFM) comes into its own. The shopfloor board is the communication platform of SFM. Shopfloor takes place very close to the employees in a direct interaction between employees and managers. Staff are directly involved in the process and should and can contribute their own approaches to solutions. The article provides an overview of the structure of shopfloor management (SFM) and proves that the goals set by the introduction itself – namely the optimised flow of information in the company with the involvement of all employees – are achieved through shopfloor Management. The method of a structured interview with 63 respondents is used to obtain data.