PDCA: the task is closed, but is the problem solved?
A changeover cut from 60 to 53 minutes, target 45. Lock it in, improve it, or look for another cause? PDCA and SMED step by step — with a printable SMED form and PDCA card.
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The machine is back up. Did the repair knowledge stay in the plant?
Rockwell reports MTTR falling from 18 to 12 minutes at a plant that uses an AI assistant. Before you buy a similar tool, check whether a repair leaves knowledge the next shift can use.
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LEAI: are you managing the process or its photograph?
VSM and stopwatch studies measure about one percent of events — and not at random. Why the Lean measurement layer is today the bottleneck of continuous improvement, and what changes when every single cycle describes the process.
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An engineer instead of a consultant?
Not every consultant is an engineer and not every engineer is a consultant. Can an engineer replace a consultant? He can. But the conclusion this question leads to may not be a popular one.
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The technology showed everything. Nobody was watching.
A new digital technology on the shop floor, data showing clear improvement potential from week one — and the project dies anyway. Anatomy of a change loaded onto one engineer's shoulders: no structure, no reviews, no management engagement.
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When the bottleneck can't be watched.
A robotic grinding cell ran on folklore — "the robot is always busy". Continuous analysis proved it ground 52% of the time and waited the rest. The same cell, same operator, had already demonstrated +43% throughput on its best day.
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Your machines running at 95%? I have bad news.
The VUT equation (Kingman, 1961) proves that near 100% utilisation, cycle time grows exponentially — not linearly. Factory Physics in practice: three buffers, Little's Law, and what to do about it.
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Engineers' fears about AI in manufacturing — and what they really mean
Will artificial intelligence take engineers' jobs? After 25 years on the shop floor I can tell you that's the wrong question. The better one is what AI does with the best engineers.
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