Your shop in one picture

Where the time goes in one picture

This is the picture we draw when we walk a floor. The office, the systems and files, and the shop floor each get a row. Every place work waits gets a red number. Every question that goes back up the building and never gets a straight answer gets a dashed line. Shown here for Ridgeline Metal Co., a shop we made up.

4places time is lostNumbered in red on the picture

3loops that never closeQuestions that go back up with no answer

1place a cell fitsThe red node on the shop floor

Ridgeline Metal Co. in one picture

Example shop

A handoff
Where time is lost
A loop that never closes
Where a robot cell fits

Where time is lost

1
QuotingEvery order typed in twice
2
SchedulingOut of date by mid morning
3
Shared driveThree copies of one drawing
4
Press brakesMost of the shift is loading, not bending

Loops that never close

Is my job done yetPress brakes back up to Scheduling
Which drawing is rightPress brakes back up to Shared drive
Where is my orderShipping back up to Quoting

The cell answers one of these

A robot tending the press brakes takes on the loading in number 4. That is the part a cell does.

The rest are findings, and they are yours

Some are later steps, like jobs on a floor screen. Some are simple fixes a shop makes on its own. The picture puts them all in one place so you can choose what comes first, if anything.

The next step is yours

Your own shop in one picture

The picture for a real shop is drawn from a walk of its floor and the people who run it. The first step is a Fit Check: a few questions about your parts and your floor.

Take the Fit Check → Talk to us