What I Wish I'd Had as a Young Automotive Engineer:

The Power of Visual Problem Solving

I often find myself reflecting on my early days as a Toyota Engineering Graduate in the weld shop back in the early 2000s. It was an incredible learning environment, but looking back, I can’t help but think how valuable a Practical Problem Solving (PPS) Visual Management Board would have been.

At the time, when we encountered a chronic issue or a sudden machine breakdown, the default approach was simple but effective: grab a flip chart, gather at the point of issue, and start mapping things out. We would document:

Containment: How do we stop the problem from affecting customers?

Root Cause Analysis (RCA): What’s really behind this issue?

Countermeasures: What actions do we take to eliminate the root cause and prevent recurrence?

This worked — no doubt about it. It created focus, structure, and accountability in the moment. But it was also ad-hoc. Each problem looked slightly different, each flip chart had its own layout, and once the immediate crisis was dealt with, the record of our thinking often disappeared into the background.

That’s why I look at a PPS Visual Management Board today and immediately see its potential. Having a clear, professional structure laid out from the start would have:

Reduced lead time in decision-making: Teams wouldn’t spend time setting up their own framework; the process would already be there.

Improved visibility: Progress and ownership would be clear to everyone, not just those in the room at the time.

Aided standardisation: Consistency across problems leads to better learning and faster improvement cycles.

Embedded discipline: By making the steps visible and non-optional, the team naturally follows the right thinking process.

In many ways, that’s the beauty of visual management: it takes good problem-solving principles and makes them visible, structured, and repeatable. It turns something that “works when you have the right people in the room” into something that always works, regardless of personalities, pressure, or memory.

Looking back, I realise that while the flip chart taught me the fundamentals, a PPS board would have accelerated both my learning and the team’s results. It’s a reminder that sometimes, it’s not just about what we do, but also about how we frame and structure it.

For anyone leading teams today, I’d encourage you to think about how your problem-solving approach is made visible. Are you relying on ad-hoc methods? Or do you have a standard, professional framework that supports discipline, visibility, and speed?

Because as I’ve learned, it’s the structure that transforms problem solving from “something we do when issues arise” into “a culture that continuously drives improvement