Box Company Quick Change Followup
Remember the quick change workshop at the box manufacturer I wrote about a week or so ago? They've since been recording changeover times on a sheet we developed during the workshop itself. Here's a copy of the sheet we're using. I like to "blow up" a sheet like this and post it somewhere so that it's visible from a distance of ten to fifteen feet. They've blown it up just a bit and keep it on a clipboard.
Here's the sheet. Click and it should let you download it. It's an Excel file.
Changeover Tracking Sheet
In this case, the operator simply puts an "X" in the cell that corresponds to the changeover time. (In this case, there are three categories of changes, ergo the three different scales. The team recently revised the sheet, numbering each of the scales. Now, they write the number of the type of changeover in the appropriate time cell. I know this is confusing but it makes perfect sense to the folks who work there...they designed the sheet.) If the changeover time is "above average" (the gray line), they write a comment about the changeover in the Comment section. So, at a glance, we can see how things have been going with changeovers, how many have been good and how many have been slow and what was going on with the slow ones.
It's important that the form is simple to use and "user friendly". Managers (and sometimes, operators) occasionally want to capture lots of data on forms like these. I resist that idea and I'm especially reluctant to try to capture much numerical data. The theme I promote is quick problem solving cycle time: can I see whether things are going well or not at a glance and what the problem is if they aren't. If the X is below the gray line, the changeover went well. That's all I need to know. If it's above the line,it went awry. Now I can take a look at the Comments to get more info. I certainly want to engage my operators or set up people in a conversation about that setup. If two out of my next three setups are problematic, I want to get everyone together to see what's happening. I don't need any thing other than "X's" on the chart and a few comments to make this happen.
Here's the sheet. Click and it should let you download it. It's an Excel file.
Changeover Tracking Sheet
In this case, the operator simply puts an "X" in the cell that corresponds to the changeover time. (In this case, there are three categories of changes, ergo the three different scales. The team recently revised the sheet, numbering each of the scales. Now, they write the number of the type of changeover in the appropriate time cell. I know this is confusing but it makes perfect sense to the folks who work there...they designed the sheet.) If the changeover time is "above average" (the gray line), they write a comment about the changeover in the Comment section. So, at a glance, we can see how things have been going with changeovers, how many have been good and how many have been slow and what was going on with the slow ones.
It's important that the form is simple to use and "user friendly". Managers (and sometimes, operators) occasionally want to capture lots of data on forms like these. I resist that idea and I'm especially reluctant to try to capture much numerical data. The theme I promote is quick problem solving cycle time: can I see whether things are going well or not at a glance and what the problem is if they aren't. If the X is below the gray line, the changeover went well. That's all I need to know. If it's above the line,it went awry. Now I can take a look at the Comments to get more info. I certainly want to engage my operators or set up people in a conversation about that setup. If two out of my next three setups are problematic, I want to get everyone together to see what's happening. I don't need any thing other than "X's" on the chart and a few comments to make this happen.
Comments