Visual scheduling is a plain, two-dimensional format that maps out which products, parts, or subassemblies need to be produced, and when, in what quantity, and in what order. Nothing could be simpler.

In companies where schedules aren't published in a single, centralized location for all to see and know, the effect of a visual schedule can be revolutionary. Core information is no longer one of the company's best-kept secrets known only by a chosen few (i.e., the planner and a handful of supervisors). Operators won't have to ask, and ask again: "What am I supposed to make now, boss?" They know what that boss knows: the production schedule. In fact, put in a visual/physical format, everyone can access the schedule at will because it's both visual and physical. No longer is it insider information.

Truth be told, in most organizations, withholding production information is not intentional. It doesn't occur to managers to make the schedule widely and simultaneously known. More times than not, the production schedule is on a computer, which in the minds of many managers and planners is the same as universally available. To them computer-based schedules are convenient, make sense, and allow for easy updates. Who would argue with that as a best-case practice? I would.

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