Fitting digital visualization board transitions to shop floor tasks

The increased digitalization of shop floors has provided unprecedented opportunities for real-time sharing of process and resource details. Visualization boards (VBs), which provide ubiquitous technology-enabled renderings of such details, salient to a local shop-floor setting, have the potential to play a significant role in this regard. Critical to the effectiveness of this role is the fit between VB design and shop-floor needs. In our study, we apply task-technology-fit theory in case examinations focused on identifying mismatch, implications of mismatch, and putative best practices in designs for future interventions. Our assessment capitalizes on both core operations management design principles as well as technology management design principles. We develop grounded propositions regarding guidelines that should be applied in future VB designs and deployments.