Incomplete production data – how to proceed ?

It is not uncom­mon to meet manu­fac­tu­ring compa­nies that do not have the data in stock that you want. And where proces­ses are in use that can be impro­ved. From a point of view of theory, the demand is  to first gene­rate all neces­sary data. For that purpose a subset of orders is recor­ded on time-sheets. These sheets record detailed data on indi­vi­dual orders. A smal­ler number of such orders are then gene­ra­li­zed. The gene­ra­liza­tion serves as “plan data”, which will then be made the basis for future plan­ning. Actual data is then recor­ded and compared with this “plan data”. Conclu­si­ons are drawn from the comparison.

This proce­dure has seve­ral disadvantages:

1. It’s time-consum­ing.

2. Employees know the importance of recor­ded times and some are incli­ned to stretch them. Time­kee­pers know this and are incli­ned to reduce it mathe­ma­ti­cally. This redu­ces the vali­dity of the data.

3. Regard­less of the effort, examp­les remain examp­les. In the gene­ra­liza­tion of which there is the risk of gene­ra­liza­tion of errors.

4. What are the conclu­si­ons drawn from the devia­tion between plan and actual? As a rule, very simple: actual is less than plan­ned: “good”, the oppo­site: “bad”. Under no circum­s­tances do you want to go through the time-consum­ing and alre­ady comple­ted process of time recor­ding again.

5. Employees learn to record actual times in such a way that they corre­spond to the plan­ned times. Then ever­yone is satis­fied. Only the meaning of the whole thing falls by the wayside.

So, how can you do better? It takes seve­ral simple steps in the right order.

1. All employees are infor­med about the onco­ming change. This process takes place step by step follo­wing company hier­ar­chy and with the oppor­tu­nity to ask questions.

2. Actual times are recor­ded. Compre­hen­si­vely. The same for ever­yone. In the same way. The begin­ning and the end of each order is recorded.

3. These recor­dings must be made very simple. This may actually require invest­ments in – inex­pen­sive – devices.

4. Employees should only record the time they work on orders. Not all other times. They must know that it is okay if they do not reach the daily atten­dance time.

5. A large amount of data is gene­ra­ted. It must be evalua­ted daily in the sense of quality control. Evalua­ted means:

   1. Check for errors

   2. Consul­ta­tion with those respon­si­ble on their plausibility

6. In a very short time, repre­sen­ta­tive data is crea­ted that can also be used for planning.

If you think it makes sense to support the imple­men­ta­tion in your company, I will be happy to apply this with you!