Throughput.
The rate at which the system turns time into output and profit.
Your Earliest Date Is Route Math, Not Line Time
Ask a plant scheduler for the earliest date you can have an item and you will get a number several weeks out.
Archive · 19 entries
A Failed Trial Is Not a Settled Question
I sat on an internal assessment review this month where the most important sentence of the hour was not about equipment.
Missed Work Has No Room In The Live Week
I sat in on an interview with the production scheduler at a prepared foods plant last week.
A Rate Nobody Wrote Down Belongs to One Crew
A two week assessment has one scarce resource, which is time in front of the operation.
Scope the Process, Not the Machine You Can Count
I sent a draft scope for an optimization trial to the leader who runs the plant.
Your Attendance Log Is a Capacity Study
Two things happen on almost every plant walk I do.
Level the Arrivals Before You Price the Line
A capacity request usually arrives already shaped as equipment.
Measure the Line, Then Use Their Headcount
Every labor reduction on a manual line meets the same question in its first review, and it is never about the time study.
Your Time Study Measured The Task, Not The Day
An operator spent four days on the trim floor of a protein plant with a stopwatch.
If Anyone Can Move The Date, Nobody Owns The Plan
An operations leader put it in one line during a weekly review: if everybody has the ability to change the dates, we have no idea what we are driving toward, or how long it takes, or why it is late.
Reconcile Downtime Before Changing the Rate
A low downtime percentage is not proof of a measurement fault. A disagreement between the report and independently observed events is a reason to investigate.
Load the Thermal Resource in Batches and Hours
Will the thermal process support the mix and volume expected after a packaging or labor change?
Count One Changeover as One Elapsed Event
Are changeover averages measuring complete transitions or fragments of them?
Test the Constraint Before Replacing the Machine
Would improving this machine increase completed good output through the whole line?
How Much Line Loss Can a Cheaper Package Afford?
What operating penalty would exhaust the quoted saving on a material change?
The Schedule Behind the Automation Payback
Does an automation investment still pay when the actual schedule supplies fewer usable hours?
Price the Next SKU Against a Feasible Schedule
What incremental operating burden does a proposed SKU add to the actual order book?
Material Saved Is Not Automatically Capacity Recovered
When does reduced giveaway create extra units, and when does it only reduce material consumption?
Follow the Weight Through the Bake
Where does finished-weight variation arise between portioning and packing?
The Restart Clock Ends at Good Output
How much production is actually lost between cleaning completion and a stable approved restart?