Are we really targeting where we need to be?
The year has barely begun, but for many companies, the festive period already seems like a long-forgotten episode. The goals set in January – to plan better, streamline processes, finally rely on data – often evaporate as soon as routine gains momentum.
6 weeks have passed (at the time of writing this article), and promises to oneself are already dissolving into routine.
This is especially evident in production: there are many plans, even more problems, and less clarity on where to start than we would like, because the "fires" have not disappeared anywhere, and analysis requires resources and time.
And yet, there is one fundamental question that should be raised more and more at the beginning of the year:
Do we really see production as it is?
"We see everything anyway" – a belief that costs companies dearly every year.
The most common reason why the use of production monitoring is postponed is as follows:
“And now we see everything well enough, so there is no need for monitoring.”
This is understandable - the human eye catches the moment, the manager sees the shop, the operators are constantly near the equipment. However, the ability to see the moment is not the same as the ability to assess the whole.
Lean philosophy calls for being in the gemba, but even there:
- a person does not record all short downtimes and process deviations,
- assessment is subjective,
- emotions and habits apply “filters”,
- long-term process regularities are invisible to the naked eye.
Therefore, while the manager thinks that “everything is clear”, the reality is often completely different.
And this becomes painfully obvious as soon as the company starts using Lean2S – a real-time production monitoring system. The first reactions are always practically the same:
- Why are there so many downtimes?
- Is this machine really that slow?
- We knew there was a problem, but we didn’t know it was this big.
Then the real changes begin – fast, concrete and delivering results, because finally we are based on fact, not belief.
The cost of missed opportunities: a real example from production
A concrete example – investments based on assessment, not real data.
The company is planning expansion, new products are being developed, the volume and load are being calculated, which is assessed based on previously produced quantities, and it makes us believe that additional machines are needed, because the current productivity will not be enough. However, when we started monitoring the process with the Lean2S monitoring system, a different picture emerged:
- The machine is used 40–50% of the time
- there are many downtimes that were not previously visible and assessed
- the actual productivity is significantly lower than the theoretical one, and the process is unstable.
Nevertheless, the second machine was purchased. Result:
* old machine works inefficiently too,
* second machine is loaded only 30-40%
* money invested, no efficiency.
It would be good if this was just a temporary situation, really intensive work with orders and planned loading, but the TOC (Theory of Constraints) principle says first of all - fully exploit the limitation.
The logic of the decision to purchase a device can be explained simply - fully exploiting the limitation is inconvenient: you need to adjust processes, eliminate downtime, and make efforts. And buying a device is very easy.
Unfortunately, fully exploiting the limitation, managing the process and eliminating inefficient areas while pushing towards the result with what you have is painful, inconvenient, and requires effort. Again, the Lean2S monitoring system is useful for this - when making changes, you immediately see whether it is yielding results or whether you still need to act differently.
This is why the decision to “postpone monitoring” costs companies every year:
- unestimated downtime,
- undiscovered bottlenecks,
- lost efficiency,
- missed opportunities to increase production capacity without additional costs,
- wrong investments.
Lean2S: when change is visible
The Lean2S production monitoring system is designed to make production visible without filters – minute by minute. It provides:
- real-time equipment operation and downtime,
- accurate OEE and Availability,
- downtime cause analysis,
- bottleneck identification,
- operator work visibility,
- the pulse of the entire process without human interpretation.
Then every change – whether it be a change in work organization, a targeted intervention to eliminate the cause, or non-compliance with agreements – is visible immediately.
This motivates people and helps them make clear, data-based decisions.
Conclusion: Delaying monitoring is the most expensive mistake
We’re only (already) six weeks into this year.
It’s a great time to ask yourself:
- Am I making decisions based on real data, or based on what seems right?
- Do I really see the whole picture of the production process?
- Couldn’t I have avoided unnecessary investments now if the process were monitored in real time?
Delaying monitoring seems innocent, but it silently and constantly costs a lot – lost percentages that don’t increase efficiency, and thousands that are spent where they’re not needed.