Counting legs on a Friday
A restaurant has ordered dining chairs and tables for its new site. It is the biggest order you have taken. Legs, rails, seat frames and backs are machined in batches, then assembled, sanded, finished and sent to your upholsterer for the seats. By the third week, parts are in piles all over the workshop. Somebody counts legs on Friday afternoon and gets a different number from the person who counted on Wednesday.
Two chairs failed inspection after finishing and need remaking. Nobody is quite sure whether the remade parts have been cut yet.
One-off habits, batch work
Makers used to commissions keep track of one piece in their head. Batch work breaks that, because it is many identical parts at different stages.
- Parts are counted by eye, at irregular intervals.
- Rejects and remakes are not recorded, so counts drift.
- Different stages run at different speeds, and piles build up between them.
- Parts at the upholsterer or finisher are out of sight.
- The client asks how many are ready, and the answer is a guess.
What losing count costs
Short counts are discovered at assembly or, worse, when the delivery is loaded. Remakes are cut twice or not at all. Contract clients such as restaurants and hotels usually have an opening date, and missing it matters a great deal to them. And the workshop spends time counting and searching instead of making.
Batch tracking for contract runs
- The order is broken down into products, components and quantities, such as chairs, each with legs, rails, seat frames and backs.
- Stages are set up for each component: machining, assembly, sanding, finishing, upholstery, inspection, packing.
- At each stage, the person finishing a batch records the count passed on and any rejects, with a reason, on a tablet or phone.
- Rejects create remake tasks automatically, so they are cut and tracked like any other part.
- Outside stages, such as upholstery, record what has gone out and what has come back.
- A progress view shows how many of each product are complete, and where the rest are, with the delivery date alongside.
| Question | Today | With batch tracking |
|---|---|---|
| How many chairs are ready? | Count the piles | Complete count shown |
| Where are the rest? | Walk around | Count at each stage |
| Have remakes been cut? | Unsure | Remake tasks tracked |
| What is at the upholsterer? | Phone them | Out and back recorded |
Batch work under control
You know how close the order is to finished at any moment, and can give the client a straight answer. Rejects are dealt with rather than forgotten. Piles between stages become visible, so you can move people to where the work is stuck. And after the order, the reject reasons show where the process could improve for the next contract.
Contract clients often want evidence of progress, such as photos of finished batches or a count before they release a stage payment. With counts recorded at every stage, that report is ready when they ask. It also makes it easier to deliver in phases, for example the tables first and the chairs a little later, because you know exactly which products are complete and packed.
Is a contract order stretching you?
- You count parts by eye to know where an order stands.
- Remakes have been missed or cut twice.
- Piles build up between stages.
- Parts at outside suppliers are hard to track.
- Contract clients ask for progress and you have to guess.