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Setting Up a Production Floor Display in Your Workshop

A whiteboard on the wall worked when you had five orders. Now you have fifty, and the whiteboard is a mess of crossed-out entries and sticky notes that fall off overnight. Here's how to replace it with a live, auto-refreshing production display using hardware you probably already own.

Why a Live Display Changes Everything

The biggest time sink in most workshops isn't the production itself - it's the constant interruptions. "What should I work on next?" "Is that order still in painting?" "Did the subcontractor finish their part?" Every question means someone walks to the office or picks up a phone.

A screen on the wall showing your live production kanban board answers most of these questions before they're asked. Workers see what's queued at their station. Supervisors spot bottlenecks without checking a dashboard. New priorities are visible to everyone the moment they're set.

How to Set It Up

Board's kiosk mode runs in any modern web browser. Mount a screen on your workshop wall, open the kiosk URL, and you're done. The screen shows a live view of your production board and auto-refreshes at the interval you set. No login needed on the display device.

The whole process takes about five minutes. Here's what you need to decide:

1. Pick Your Hardware

You don't need anything special. Common setups include:

• Wall-mounted TV + Fire Stick or Chromecast - The most popular option. Use the built-in browser on the streaming device to open the kiosk URL. Works with any TV you already have.
• Old laptop connected to a monitor - If you have a spare laptop, just open the browser full-screen. Tape the laptop behind the monitor or tuck it on a shelf.
• Tablet at each workstation - Mount a cheap tablet at individual stations showing only that station's queue. Workers see exactly what's coming to them.
• Raspberry Pi - For a permanent, low-cost installation. Under $50 for the hardware, runs a browser in kiosk mode out of the box.

The display device just needs internet access and a browser. No software to install, no licences for the display device.

2. Choose What to Show

You probably don't want to show every production stage on every screen. Board lets you select which columns each kiosk displays. The kiosk on the paint shop floor should show the painting queue and what's coming from assembly. The packing area screen should show what's ready to pack and what's shipping today.

3. Pick a Theme

Workshops come in all lighting conditions. A bright screen in a dimly lit spray booth is distracting. A light theme in a sun-drenched warehouse is unreadable. Board offers light and dark themes - choose what works for each location.

4. Set the Refresh Interval

Set how often the display updates - every 30 seconds, every minute, or every 5 minutes. Faster refresh for high-throughput stations, slower for stages where orders sit longer.

What Changes When the Board Is on the Wall

No More "What's Next?" Walks

When workers can see the queue on the wall, they stop walking to the office to ask what to work on next. This alone saves significant time across a full shift. The screen tells them what's waiting, what's urgent, and what's coming down the line.

Bottlenecks Become Obvious

When one column is overflowing and the next is empty, everyone sees it - not just the manager checking the dashboard. This visibility creates natural self-correction. Workers at underloaded stations can offer help where work is piling up.

Accountability Without Micromanagement

A live display makes progress visible to the whole team. When everyone can see the board, there's natural motivation to keep orders moving. No one needs to stand over shoulders or send status-check messages.

Customer-Facing Displays

Some workshops mount a kiosk in their showroom or reception area. Customers visiting to check on their order can see production progress with sensitive details filtered out. It builds trust and reduces status calls. You can also share individual tracking links for remote visibility.

Read-Only by Design

The kiosk display is read-only. Workers can see what's queued at their station, but they can't accidentally modify the board by bumping the screen. All updates happen through the mobile app or the main dashboard. This keeps the display safe in dusty, busy workshop environments where accidental touches are inevitable.

Part of the Same System

The kiosk shows the same data your team sees in the mobile app and dashboard. When a worker updates an order via the app, the kiosk refreshes automatically. Time tracking runs in the background. Everything stays connected - one source of truth, visible everywhere it needs to be.