Client stories
These notes come from factory and production managers after a study, a desk review, or a shift beside a named line.
They stood the Friday changeovers with us rather than interviewing us about them. The first-hour chart matched what the night lead had been saying for months. I still think the closing briefing ran long for a Friday, but the page we kept on the line is the one the day and night crews now argue from.
Our stop book looked complete until they grouped the comments. Three codes were the same jammed tool. Once that was one bar, the waiting-for-steel story shrank and we could talk to stores with a number instead of a feeling.
The single-line observation was enough to show the packer, not the filler, was setting the hour. I had been buying faster filling ideas. The one-page summary went to the owner the same afternoon.
The full study took more escort time than I had budgeted, especially on nights. What we got back was a week of lost hours by reason that survived the board meeting because it used our codes, not a borrowed list from another industry.
Four connected lines, heavy SKU mix, night changeovers. The study used eight weeks of logs plus three days on the floor. First-hour losses after film changes sat outside the ‘set-up’ code. The plant kept the charts at the Monday production meeting for the following quarter.
A desk review of stop books before any visit. Duplicated jam codes had split the main loss across three bars. After grouping, waiting for coil became a stores conversation with hours attached, not a debate about operator attention.