The supervisor is sure one line is the biggest problem, and the plant manager is sure it's a particular machine. The complaint that comes up every week gets worked on because everyone knows it, whether or not it costs the most.

The problem with managing by gut feel

Instinct has value. People on the floor often sense a problem developing before the data shows it. On its own, though, instinct drifts toward whatever is most visible or most recent, and that is often not what costs the most.

So the team spends its time on the wrong things. Chronic downtime, repeated minor stops, changeover losses and quality drift carry on in the background while louder, cheaper problems take the attention.

Data lets you ask better questions

With consistent production data, the kind production reporting collects automatically, the question stops being "what feels like the biggest issue?" and becomes:

  • Where are we losing the most production time?
  • Which problems happen most often?
  • Which issues are generating the most scrap or rework?
  • Which lines, shifts, or products are driving the biggest losses?

Each of those has an answer in the data, and the team can act on it without second-guessing each other.

The data collection barrier is lower than it used to be

There used to be a real argument for relying on instinct. Collecting production and quality data was difficult, expensive, and slow to report on. That argument is a lot weaker now.

Now the question is whether the data is collected consistently, organized properly and turned into something people can use during the shift. That takes standard inputs, clearly defined reason categories, the same capture on every shift and line, and reports that arrive in time to act on. With that in place, the morning meeting starts from the same numbers.

The gap widens every year

A plant that collects and uses its production data finds losses sooner and puts people where the losses are. Each fix frees up time for the next one, so the distance between that plant and one running on gut feel keeps growing.

Experience still matters. The data gives an experienced supervisor something to check a hunch against.

How 10in6 helps

10in6 collects, organizes and reports plant data the same way on every line and shift. The team can see where time is being lost and send people to the biggest losses first.